Stellantis CEO says underperforming brands might have to go

Carlos Tavares has said that Stellantis might drop brands that don’t prove themselves profitable. The comments come after some disappointing revenue results for the first half of 2024.

Speaking to the Bloomberg Talks podcast, the Stellantis CEO said the whole of the car industry is having a tough time, but Stellantis’ brands are ‘here to be leveraged’ and ‘if they’re not able to monetise the value they represent, then decisions will come’.

That's tough talk, but while the company posted net profits of €5.6 (£4.72bn) – clearly not short of a bob or two – when compared with 2023 figures, there’s a 48 per cent decline. Ouch.

Though Tavares was careful not to single out any brand specifically, Maserati’s shifting 50 per cent fewer cars, in spite of the launch of the GranTurismo Folgore. Such luxury models cost from £178,000, which by our maths means losing 6,500 sales equals a lot of cash. Erm, €82 million (£69m) to be precise. Yep, that was the adjusted operating loss that Maser posted. Double ouch.

Tavares has indicated previously that he wants Maser to be in a better position before any of those ‘hard decisions’ are made – perhaps once the all-electric MC20 arrives next year. But it must be tough pinning the brand's hopes and dreams on EVs, when the overall EV market is slowing up. What's more, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard Stellantis brand bosses utter the words ‘hard decisions will come’.

MariaGrazia Davino, Stellantis UK chief, previously told SMMT International Summit 2024 delegates of those ‘tough decisions’ earlier this year when discussing the impact of the ZEV mandate and producing cars in the UK. And Linda Jackson, CEO of Peugeot, has made mention of hard decisions when discussing the brand’s €40 billion plunge into electrification. It's an especially useful phrase if you want specific ears to be listening intently to your every word, perhaps.

A £69m hole in the finances is bound to give any boss trying to keep shareholders happy pause for thought. If Maserati were to be the first of 15 Stellantis brands to market, the question is, who should buy it?