- Stellantis has reported a massive 48% drop in net profits during the first half of 2024.
- CEO Carlos Tavares blamed both industry conditions and his company’s own operational issues.
- Loss-making brands could be axed, Tavares warned.
If Ford’s first-half financial results revealed this week looked disappointing, the numbers are at least nothing like as bad as those from Stellantis. The multinational automaker group that includes Jeep, Dodge and Fiat says profits virtually halved in the first six months of 2024.
Net profits at Stellantis fell by 48 percent to $6.07 billion in the first half of the year versus the same period in 2023, and adjusted income dropped $6.18 billion to $9.22 billion, news that sent the group’s share price sliding by 8.5 percent.
Related: Frustrated Stellantis Dealers Call For Changes After Sales Disaster
CEO Carlos Tavares blamed the results largely on the automaker’s performance in the US, where its sales tanked 16 percent despite the car market growing overall. And he warned that there was no place for sentimentality when it came to loss-making brands.
“If they don’t make money, we’ll shut them down,” Reuters reports Carlos Tavares telling journalists, leading to speculation that Lancia, DS and Maserati could all be in the firing line. “We cannot afford to have brands that do not make money.”
Tavares refused to accept that brutal cost-cutting measures were responsible for the company’s plight, and instead tried to put a positive spin on the situation by looking ahead.
“While corrective actions were needed and are being taken to address these issues, we also have initiated an exciting product blitz, with no fewer than 20 new vehicles launching this year, and with that brings bigger opportunities when we execute well,” Tavares said.
Included in that list of new product that could improve the next set of half-year figures are Europe’s Lancia Ypsilon and the Hurricane-powered Ram 1500. Stellantis will also instigate price cuts to make its cars, trucks and SUVs more competitive, something dealers have been calling for.
But the former Renault man acknowledged that getting out of the rut wasn’t going to be easy.
“We have significant work to do, especially in North America, to maximize our long-term potential,” he said.
