Carlos Tavares Has One Regret During His Time as Dodge, Jeep, RAM CEO

The closing of a chapter

About a week ago, the multinational automotive collective Stellantis closed a chapter in its tumultuous history as it named Antonio Filosa as its new CEO following an extensive search. The search, which considered candidates within and outside Stellantis, was initiated shortly after Carlos Tavares suddenly departed the company in December 2024, despite his promise not to renew his CEO contract after it was slated to end in early 2026.

In a new interview with Bloomberg at his home near Lisbon, in his native Portugal, Tavares revealed that his departure from Stellantis was a personal choice rather than a result of conflict within the company. He said the decision stemmed from a thoughtful reflection sparked by a “very mature” conversation with chairman John Elkann, which greatly influenced his path.

“I have nothing against anybody,” Tavares told the financial publication. “Even those who made my life more difficult when I was the CEO of Stellantis. At one point in time, there is a crossroads, and somebody decides that it’s time to part ways. That’s fine.”

Tavares: There are “tons of things” that could have been handled differently

During his time as the former helm of Stellantis, Tavares oversaw some very controversial decisions that not everyone at the company was on board with, which included swapping metal parts for plastic ones on some of its more off-road-oriented vehicles. In a December 2024 CNBC report, several former and current Stellantis executives and other U.S.-based employees described Tavares as a selfish leader who would sacrifice the business to squeeze out every last cent.

In his past tenure at Renault under the notorious Carlos Ghosn, he gained a reputation as a brash businessperson who was unafraid to shake up C-suites, but one Stellantis-affiliated individual characterized Tavares as jaded and said that the pressure to cut costs felt like having a pistol “to your head.” 

In the same report, another Stellantis figurehead said that he was chiefly behind the decision to kill off the Hemi V8, noting that others in the company “wanted to keep [Hemi],” but were shot down due to Tavares’ ambitious climate targets. 

Tavares admitted to Bloomberg he could have done “tons of things” differently. However, one regret that he brought up was failing to bring US dealers on board with his agenda, which focused heavily on cost-cutting and dropping key models. Despite calling it a regret, he still sees some silver lining in retrospect. 

“The dealers in the U.S. did not want to support what we were trying to do, which is my responsibility,” he said. “Many things could have been done differently, but that doesn’t matter. The company is profitable.”

Carlos Tavares’s departure came as Stellantis dealer sentiment was at an all-time low

In his interview with Bloomberg, Tavares called his replacement, Antonio Filosa, “a logical, credible choice,” considering his experience in the Americas. However, he desperately has to repair the tattered relationship with its dealers that faltered under his tenure.

In a January 2025 dealership sentiment survey from Kerrigan Advisors, 72% of dealers surveyed said that they had no trust in the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram brands, which Stellantis owns. According to the survey, just 2% of dealers said they had high trust in Stellantis, and 26% said they had moderate trust. The level of distrust increased dramatically from the results recorded just one year prior. In 2023, just 39% of dealers said they had no trust in Stellantis, which reflects a 33% jump in distrust year over year.

The survey was conducted around the same time the U.S. Stellantis National Dealer Council blamed then-CEO Carlos Tavares front and center for what it called the “rapid degradation” of brands like Dodge, Ram, and Jeep, in a letter dated September 10. 

“The market share of your brands has been slashed nearly in half, Stellantis’ stock price is tumbling, plants are closing, layoffs are rampant, and key executives are fleeing the company,” the dealers wrote. “Investor lawsuits, supplier lawsuits, strikes–the fallout is mounting. Your own distribution network, your dealer body, has been left in an anemic and diminished state.”

Following a prior back-and-forth between the dealer council and Stellantis, Stellantis US Dealer Council chairman Kevin Farrish noted in a December statement to AutoNews that Stellantis has been rebuilding trust. He said Stellantis Chairman John Elkann held a video call with Dealer Council leaders under Elkann’s leadership the day after Tavares exited the company.

Final thoughts

This won’t be the last time we hear from Carlos Tavares regarding Stellantis. To this day, Carlos Ghosn still adds his input on issues regarding Nissan. It is still difficult to tell which direction Stellantis will take regarding its products and company direction. However, we can hope that things will only improve from here.