When Carlos Tavares announced Stellantis‘ record profits, the group was celebrated as a perfect example of a successful industrial merger. Today, a short time later, that image of solidity seems cracked. New CEO Antonio Filosa inherits a company crossed by uncertainties and called upon to redefine its future.
Stellantis facing a decisive phase: Filosa evaluates difficult choices to safeguard the group
2025 marked a sharp reversal of trend. After years of growing balance sheets, the group recorded a net loss of €2.3 billion in the first half, interrupting a long period of profits. The causes are attributed to declining European demand, supply problems, conflicts with industrial partners, technical defects emerging on some engines and a commercial network still under reorganization. To all this are added regulatory pressures on electrification and increasingly aggressive global competition, particularly from China.
The handover from Tavares to Filosa has not yet produced the hoped-for turnaround. The merger between PSA and FCA, designed to generate synergies and reduce costs, today shows all the difficulties of uniting very different industrial cultures and strategies. Inside the group, debate is growing on the need to reduce the number of brands: Stellantis manages fourteen, a broad portfolio but complex to keep in balance during a market contraction phase.
Filosa now faces decisive choices. Downsizing ambitions, cutting projects and rationalizing the structure could be the only ways to avoid further deterioration. Among the hypotheses under discussion are the sale of non-strategic assets, the closure of some plants and targeted job cuts in Europe.
The dream of the perfect merger between FCA and PSA therefore risks vanishing, following a fate similar to that of Renault-Nissan or Mercedes-Chrysler. Stellantis enters a phase of profound revision, in which every decision will be closely watched by shareholders, governments and customers. And how Filosa manages this transition phase will determine the group’s very future.
