“Oh brother… this guy stinks!” - Stellantis investors, probably

Stellantis experienced its own kind of erectile dysfunction today as shares just couldn’t get up even after new CEO Antonio Filosa officially took the wheel of this 14-brand clown car. Down 2% by late morning, Stellantis investors looked at Filosa’s first moves and basically said, “That’s it?”

(Source: Giphy) 

Filosa, for those just tuning in, was supposed to be the guy to shake things up after ex-CEO Carlos Tavares bailed on the company with a 70% drop in net profit and a dealer network that’s one more bad quarter away from unionizing out of spite. Instead, Antonio decided his first act would be… keeping his old job as North America chief, and making sure none of the furniture got moved around. Bold strategy, Cotton. 

As for Wall Street, they were hoping for a little more juice, maybe a little blood on the boardroom floor. Instead, what they got was a bunch of “people-first mindset” and “deep regional roots” platitudes that made even the HR team’s eyes glaze over. Filosa rolled out a squad of Stellantis lifers to run the show: Ralph Gilles (design), Olivier Francois (marketing), Alison Jones (parts and circular economy—whatever the hell that means), and Giorgio Fossati (legal). Meaning, if you were hoping for a fresh face, outside of the CEO, sorry boutcha. 

(Source: Yahoo Finance) 

What’s more is that analysts are already roasting him for running two jobs at once, like transforming Stellantis is just a fun side quest he’s grinding between meetings. The stock’s down 10% since his appointment was announced in May. Investors are clearly shook as they wanted an outsider… not another “we grew up under Sergio” guy playing musical chairs with the C-Suite.  Case in point: Filosa is now the CEO and still running North America, a region that’s basically been the company’s problem child since Tavares left it in shambles. Perhaps you’ve heard, but the U.S. business is bleeding market share left, right, and twice on Sunday as sales dropped 12.3% under Tavares, resulting in Stellantis slipping out of the top four in U.S. auto sales. 

(Source: MSN) 

Which is why, for the most part, the dealer network is salty as hell, having sent an open letter last year basically begging corporate to stop treating them like NPCs. One dealer called the network “anemic and diminished,” which is about as polite as you can be while still plotting mutiny. The hope (if you can call it that) is that Filosa will “fix” the U.S. ops and manage the incoming tariff hellscape as the trade war drama ramps up. But let’s be honest here, running two jobs at once is giving one foot in and one foot out energy. Translation: You can’t serve Stellantis as a whole, and focus only on the Jeep brand. 

For instance, Stellantis is already stuck in the clusterf**k of doubling down on “electrified” models and try to out-Tesla the competition, or keep milking the internal combustion cash cow until regulators start showing up with pitchforks? Filosa’s answer so far is basically a shrug. Meanwhile, the Chinese are eating everyone’s lunch in the EV space, and Stellantis is still trying to convince people that a Peugeot is a real car and not just a French nightmare. The company’s global sales have been circling the drain, and the only people not openly panicking are the execs who describe Filosa as “engaging,” “a listener,” and “curious.” Spoiler: He’s too nice to function. 

(Source: Giphy) 

In the end, there’s a whole lot of sweet “nothings” going on here. Stellantis needed a jolt. Instead, they got a CEO who’s double dipping in his old job and keeping the current cesspool that is management. And naturally, investors are despising it as they continue to yeet shares down -2.28% today (down -7.36% over the last five trading days). 

Meaning, for now, we are all still waiting for some action regarding Filosa to see if he can unscrew the company. But until then, Stellantis will just continue being the punchline of the auto industry. Translation: Make it Boeing, but for cars. Until next time, friends… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in Tesla as mentioned in the article.