This announcement marks a significant change from Tavares’ previous position. Since the creation of Stellantis in 2021, which was created from the merger of the Italian-American Fiat Chrysler and the French car manufacturer PSA, the CEO has consistently stated that all 14 brands of the company group have a future.
Tavares now declared:
If they don’t make money, we shut them down.
The CEO’s statements were made after Stellantis produced weaker-than-expected first half results. The company group recorded a net profit of 5.6 billion euros in the first six months of the year,
which represents a decrease of 48 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
The company’s net operating profit reached 8.5 billion euros in the same period, which was 5.7 billion euros, or 40 percent, lower than a year earlier. According to the company, the latter was mainly caused by the weakness of the North American market: 838,000 cars were sold here, which was 18 percent less than in the first half of last year.
We cannot afford to have brands that do not make money
Tavares added.
The CEO did not mention specific car brands, but it is worth noting that Maserati, for example, achieved a net operating loss of 82 million euros in the first half of the year.
According to some analysts, it is possible Maserati may be sold, while other, smaller car brands such as Lancia or DS may even disappear due to their small contribution to the group’s total sales.
Stock market investors punished the company harshly for its weak first half performance. The price of Stellantis fell by almost 9 percent in Thursday’s stock market trading compared to the previous day’s closing price.
Considering the entire year to date, the company’s share price fell by nearly 21 percent.
Source: Reuters
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Source: www.portfolio.hu
