10:25 am, October 17, 2024
Stellantis is set to review the performance of its 14 car brands, although it doesn’t plan to sell any of them until 2026.
That’s according to the company’s CEO, Carlos Tavares, who announced last week that he would retire from his role at around the same time.
‘We will review each brand’s performance at about two-thirds of the way through the Dare Forward 2030 plan, so you could expect decisions in two to three years,’ Tavares told a media round table at the Paris Motor Show this week.
According to Tavares, each Stellantis brand began 2021 with a 10-year plan — of which the first five years were fully financed by the corporation, but after which each will be subject to financial review.
‘So far, we delivered on our commitments, we already launched the STLA Medium platform which debuted with the Peugeot 3008, and when needed, we rescheduled some product launches due to changing conditions, but we did not cancel any,’ he said.
The 2026 review could see Stellantis’s weakest-performing brands either being sold off or potentially even closed in order to streamline operations and focus on the most profitable or higher volume sectors of the market, with smaller brands such as DS or Lancia potentially facing the chop.
Car Dealer reported earlier this year that even Maserati’s future was under review, although Stellantis later rowed back on threats to axe the famous Italian brand.
It’s reported that the company has already rejected at least one offer for two of its brands – according to the Detroit Free Press, Frank Rhodes Jr, the great-grandson of Walter P. Chrysler, tabled an offer to return the Chrysler and Dodge brands to US ownership.
The comments come as the carmaker announced that global shipments fell 10 1.14m in the three months to the end of September.
The drop is 279,000 vehicles fewer than the same point last year, with North America experiencing an enormous 36% nosedive.
The ‘Enlarged Europe’ region – which includes the UK – dipped by 17% in the same period.
