Stellantis: the new CEO pays tribute to... Sergio Marchionne

Antonio Filosa didn't have to wait until he officially took over as new CEO of Stellantison June 23 to set the tone. In a short message published last night on LinkedIn, the future boss of Stellantis thanked Chairman John Elkann, the Board of Directors, the Group's 272,000 employees... and, above all, the memory of Sergio Marchionne:

As Mr Sergio Marchionne would say: "Mediocrity is not worth the journey. Let's take this victory back together!"

In just two sentences, Filosa reminded us where he came from, to whom he owes much of his rise, and what culture of excellence he intends to reinstall at the heart of the world's fourth-largest automaker. More surprising: not a word for his predecessor, Carlos Tavares, who resigned on December 1ᵉʳ, 2024. A silence that speaks volumes.

The return of one of Marchionne's sons

Born in Naples and with a degree in mechanical engineering, Antonio Filosa grew up in the shadow of the "Maestro". In 2004, Marchionne had just taken the helm at Fiat, while Filosa, then in his thirties, was already managing the Betim plant in Brazil. The two men met again in 2014 for the inauguration of the Jeep complex in Pernambuco, one of the flagship projects of the "Jeep Global" program that would boost FCA's profits in Latin America. In March 2018, the CEO appointed his protégé to the Group Executive Council, the ultimate decision-making body within the Group.

When Marchionne passed away suddenly on July 25, 2018, Filosa lost his mentor but kept the engraved motto: "Mediocrity is not worth the journey." Seven years later, he cites it publicly as a standard.

On May 28, Stellantis made an open secret official: after twenty-five years with the company, Antonio Filosa would become CEO on June 23. In the meantime, the Neapolitan will be visiting factories and dealerships to "listen" and feel the pulse of a shaken group: operating profit divided by almost three in 2024, record inventories in the United States, Chinese competition fiercer than ever on electric city cars.

If John Elkann praises "strong and effective leadership", it's also because Filosa has a proven track record: number 1 in the South American region, he put Fiat back at the top of the Brazilian market while boosting sales of Peugeot, Citroën, Ram and Jeep. Later appointed COO of the Americas, he reduced US inventories in six months and prepared a new wave of hybrid and electric models.

Forget Tavares?

The absence of any reference to Carlos Tavares is no doubt not accidental. Firstly, because the Portuguese-Frenchman embodied iron budgetary discipline, sometimes criticized for tightening the screws to the point of suffocating the distribution network. Above all, because Tavares started out with a harsh reality check: declining markets, falling profitability, growing tension with the Italian government.

By quoting Marchionne, Filosa links Stellantis to his Italian-American DNA, reassures Turin and Modena of the attention paid to the Transalpine brands (Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati) and symbolically places himself as the heir to a leader who was able to transform a slumbering giant into a cash machine.