A few weeks after admitting that he had «gone too far» in cost reductions, Stellantis continues its strategic shift. The automotive group has announced the recruitment of over 2,000 additional engineers, mainly dedicated to vehicle quality and validation. This is a strong signal from new CEO Antonio Filosa, who is determined to restore the automaker's technical reputation.
Behind this announcement lies a clear objective: to correct the consequences of several years of drastic cost-cutting and put product quality back at the heart of the Group's strategy.
A «reset» in the way cars are developed
In a recent conference call, Antonio Filosa explained that Stellantis was in the process of radically rethinking the way it developed its cars.
«We're overhauling the way we work and strengthening quality control to correct operational problems caused by some past decisions,» he said.
This internal transformation is described by some executives as a kind of «deep reset» in development processes. The aim is to avoid problems being detected too late, once the cars have already been marketed.
New engineers will be tasked with testing and validating vehicles, optimizing industrial processes and identifying potential faults before models reach dealerships. Others will work further upstream, designing platforms, engines or electronic architectures.
Quality becomes a strategic priority
The change is also visible in the Group's organization. Quality Director Sébastien Jacquet now sits on the Stellantis Strategic Management Committee, a decision-making level usually reserved for the most important functions. This sends out a clear signal: quality is no longer seen as a mere technical issue, but as a strategic challenge for the entire Group.
On LinkedIn, Sébastien Jacquet recently summed up the philosophy of the new quality team:
«Putting the customer at the center of everything we do at Stellantis. That's the mission of this new quality team.»
This move is in response to criticism of the reliability of certain new models in recent years.
The limits of the Tavares strategy
For many observers and dealers alike, the current difficulties stem partly from the strategy pursued during the Carlos Tavares era. The former Stellantis boss made cost-cutting a top priority. This financial discipline enabled the group to significantly improve profitability, but was accompanied by major cuts in engineering teams.
According to some American dealers, this policy may have weakened the quality of new vehicle development. As one dealer put it: cutting budgets while demanding the same level of quality was a difficult gamble. Problems often arise when manufacturers launch new models or major restylings, at times when new technologies and increasing vehicle complexity can generate unexpected defects.
Restoring customer confidence
Stellantis now wants to simplify certain technical choices and rely more on proven solutions, in order to reduce industrial complexity while improving vehicle reliability.
This new direction comes at a time when the automotive industry is undergoing a major technological transformation. Electrification, digitalization and the massive integration of software are making vehicles more sophisticated... but also more difficult to develop.
By massively recruiting engineers dedicated to quality, Stellantis hopes to detect problems much earlier in the development process, avoid defects in production and restore customer confidence.
For Antonio Filosa, the message is clear: after years dominated by cost-cutting, the top priority must once again be quality. This is essential if the image of the Group's brands is to enjoy a lasting revival.
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They don't look like great car enthusiasts in this photo... Let them prove themselves, there's work to be done!
Filosa must continue to repair the damage done by Scrooge Tavares. The longer this goes on, the more we realize that Tavares has made nothing but disasters and bad decisions.
Cutting costs at the expense of reliability, makes you wonder if Tavares didn't want to destroy Stellantis?
Fix Tavares' bullshit and stop adapting the same PSA mirrors to all the group's models, a little originality between each brand, just look at the copy-pasted Opel Frontera which has no personality compared to the Citroën C3 Aircross. Apart from the much more successful dashboard, the grille and the rear and side view, it's all Citroën. How can a group get to this point? .
If they could already spot the mistake of launching a compact SUV with a 44kWh battery, a 113 hp motor, no adaptive cruise control, virtually no kick-start energy recovery, a catastrophic mobile app, no average fuel consumption and no frunk when there's plenty of room in the engine bay (and third parties are going to offer it in the aftermarket) it wouldn't be bad. Like Honda, which is surprised that it doesn't sell enough electric cars, it's already time to ensure basic performance in 2026.
Tavares, or how to massacre a group with the idea of selling CRFs (rolling nightmares without fuel).
It's quick and easy to destroy a company, but it will take decades to recover from such a disaster, and Stellantis won't survive it.
The shock is too strong for buyers.
The separation of the 2 entities is inevitable.
I also think we need to go back to 2 separate entities. It's like mixing water and oil, no matter how hard you stir...
Objectively, apart from points of sale, PSA brings NOTHING to FCA. The CMP platform for small cars is borderline...
Exactly, and I would have preferred FCA to have an alliance with Lexus/Mazda/Subaru/Toyota.
To make an alliance à la Renault Nissan? 😳
An alliance is more profitable than a merger, and PSA would have done better to get closer to a group like Honda or Nissan, who already wanted to leave Renault or Ford/GM.
Ich erinnere mich noch an Lopez, Opel und VW, oder? 90er-Jahre...
Plötzlich soll der Kunde im Mittelpunkt stehen und nicht mehr der Aktionär? Wäre ja mal was Neues...;)
Und wann geht es denn nun los mit der Qualitätsoffensive? Ich möchte zu gerne einen Tonale Ibrida ohne Mängel in den nächsten Monaten kaufen.
Correcting the blatant lack of quality is all well and good. But it costs a lot of money. Stellantis and its 14 useless brands still exist, thanks or because of Tavares. As long as the group doesn't lighten up, it won't work. And 2,000 people mismanaged doesn't change the result.
I don't see what this has to do with the number of brands, the poor reliability dates back to the PSA era led by Tavares, who applied the same method at Stellantis.
I don't see what this has to do with the number of brands. Poor quality and reliability have existed since PSA, headed by Tavares, who applied the same method to Stellantis.
They're only useless if you make them useless. Would you say that the various VW Group brands are useless?
Seat is finished
VAG takes a nosedive
Audi tou je le fond
Porsche too
Apart from Cupra and Skoda, the rest are in a mess, and to add insult to injury, the Chinese Audi brand is an even bigger disaster than DS was!
In short, it smells like a tree
Fiat fehler in allen teilen
It's never too late to do the right thing.
Since the end of 2025, Stellantis has been improving in every direction.
But there are a lot of jobs out there... Especially in people's minds.
Except that the problem is so deep-rooted, and so deliberately neglected, that it's not about to change in customers' minds!
For the past 4 or 5 months, there have been signs of improvement.
All in all, 2026 is off to a great start, although we're only at the beginning.
Why won't it continue this way?
Filosa is a saviour and he's Italian, so what do the people want?
After-sales service worthy of the name (FCA and PSA are a huge disaster in this area).
A definition of each brand
(Peugeot supplies tractor chassis for Fiat/Abarth/Opel/Vauxhall with Italian L4 hybrid engine)
(Citroën/Chrysler/Lancia 4WD on Giorgio with V6 or L6 hybrid)
Rear-wheel drive for Dodge, Alfa and Maserati V8 or V6 hybrids).
Now we're getting down to basics.
Wegen der Qualität wurde ich krank.
Dokumentationswahn,täglich immer gleiche Softwareprobleme,täglich diese Prototypen reparieren zu müssen haben mich psychisch fertig gemacht.Ich arbeite nun die 4 Tage Woche um wenigstens etwas mehr Abstand zum Chaos zu haben.Und man muss die französische und italienische Mentalität lernen,jetzt geht's sehr viel besser.
Creo que ya es demasiado tarde. Nadie que yo conozca quiere trabajar en esa secta. Ni ingenieros ni operarios. Malos sueldos y jerarquías obsoletas rozando la esclavitud. Trabajen ahí y se de lo que digo. Sólo encontrarán africanos necesitados de comer tres veces al día. Demasiado tarde. Adiós stellantis
da sind im Stellantis - Konglomerat einige (zumindest bezogen auf die europäischen) Hersteller zusammengekommen, die auch vorher schon je einzeln für andauernde Qualitätsprobleme und technische «Mittelmäßigkeit» bekannt waren. Fiat - z.Bsp. - ist zunehmend zu einem Hersteller geworden, der (mehr oder weniger) ausschließlich auf den Märkten des « globalen Südens » (dies ohne Arroganz!) erfolgreich ist/sein kann.......und das bei der eigenen beeindruckenden Modellgeschichte.....