What should I get rid of? John Elkann, Italy's most prestigious family, is the CEO of Stellantis Group
Feb 26, 2025
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Former CEO Carlos Tavares was abruptly replaced in October last year due to future strategy and restructuring conflicts with the group's board of directors. Tavares was known for his cost-cutting genius.
The family, educational background, and experience of Elkann Stellantis Group Chairman John Philip Jacob is enormous. Annelly, Italy's largest family, was born in New York, USA, as the eldest son of the Annelly Group, represented by EXO. He held two nationalities, Italy and the United States, but later gave up his U.S. counterpart.
He received primary and secondary education in England and Brazil and graduated from high school in Paris, France. He later earned a degree in business engineering from the Technical University of Turin, Italy. His graduation thesis is about e-commerce and online auctions, which has had a significant impact on his career since then. In January this year, he was appointed a member of the board of directors of Meta Platforms.
In 1997, he was chosen by Gianni Agnelli, his maternal grandfather, after the death of the head of the Agnelli family, Giovanni Alberto Agnelli. Since 2004, it has led the Italian mega-group dynasty Agnelli. The Anelli family is the founder of Giovanni Anelli, one of the Fiat founders.
Warren Buffett, who leads the largest private equity fund in the United States as the eldest son of the most prestigious family, and the Valleberg family, Sweden's largest company and family, have strong friendships. He is fluent in four languages: Italian, English, French, and Portuguese.
Former CEO of Stellantis Carlos Tavares
Stellantis was formed in 2021 through a merger with FCA, which has Jeep and Fiat, and PSA of Peugeot-Citroen. In 2022, it became the world's third-largest automobile company with global sales of 7.5 million units.The problem is that earnings have plummeted since 2023. Last year, it recorded the worst performance among the world's top five automakers.Chairman Elkann must immediately decide whether to continue the 14 brands.
JEEP is the representative of the 14 brands that are still gaining strong popularity. Jeep, represented by Wrangler, is still performing well in the global market as well as North America.Ram is also competitive in the pickup truck and large SUV markets.
Peugeot is also still popular in Europe, although sales continue to decline. When looking at the proportion of sales by brand within the group, Jeep is responsible for about 15% of Stellantis Group sales. Fiat and Peugeot each account for 20%.
Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest carmaker with 14 brands
Brand brands that are relatively sluggish are also prominent. As a representative example, Lancia sells only one model. There are only tens of thousands of sales a year. DS also claims to be a European premium brand, but sales are falling sharply as it has not settled down properly. Rumors of brand abolition are even rising steadily.
Alfa Romeo is in a similar situation. There are loyal enthusiasts who like high-performance small sports cars, but there is little presence in the global market. In addition, Maserati, which has set its position as a super premium brand comparable to Ferrari, also has a weak presence. Dodge is losing popularity in the U.S., mainly in the North American market.
Stellantis Group's operating profit fell by as much as 48% year-on-year in the first half of 2024. Stellantis shares have plummeted since the first half of last year as a result of this worst performance.In the third quarter of 2024, sales were 33 billion euros (about 50 trillion won), down 27% year-on-year. Sales also fell by 20 percent.
Lanzia
It was below the market expert's estimate of 36.6 billion euros (55 trillion won), fueling the fall in stock prices. In particular, just as European car brands such as Volkswagen-Porsche-BMW-Benz plunged in sales in China, Stellantis is severely sluggish in China.
The new CEO Elkann has to decide sooner or later which of the 14 brands to keep or eliminate. The unfamiliar brand Stellantis is also drawing attention to whether it will survive.
Editor Kim Tae-jin, tj.kim@carguy.kr
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
