Carlos Tavares: here is a name that once evoked the genius of industrial streamlining, but today resonates like a seized engine. His abrupt resignation from the position of CEO of Stellantis on December 1, 2024, marks the end of an era — and the beginning of a delightful media autopsy. Let’s look back on a career marked by tight turns, strategic crashes, and bribes at social conventions. Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
An Unstoppable Rise… but Not Without Damage
Born in Lisbon in 1958, Carlos Tavares is a seasoned driver of turbocharged capitalism. After promising beginnings at Renault, he made a name for himself at PSA by playing the cost-cutting surgeon: factory closures, drastic staff reductions, and severe savings. In short, the man who considered social plans as an optimization game quickly found a place in the pantheon of ruthless managers.
But at Stellantis, the model stalled. In 2024, as net profits fell by 48%, the unions demanded his head with fervor worthy of a Monza GP. The investors, meanwhile, had already shifted gears: after long trusting his Excel spreadsheet, they didn’t see the dangerous turn of the electric transition coming.
66 Million Euros: The CEO’s Golden Ride
66 million euros, a figure that grates more than a poorly adjusted gearbox… This was Carlos Tavares’s annual compensation in 2022. While laid-off workers weep in front of closed gates, the captain of the ship swims in an ocean of bills. One might almost think he confused the steering wheel of a Fiat with that of a Ferrari — not everyone plays Monopoly under the same conditions.
In the factory corridors, some speak of a CEO "overpriced but not outstanding." A criticism echoed even in the benches of European parliaments, where Tavares’s bonuses were denounced as an insult to wage equity. With such a sum, one might at least hope he installed a GPS to avoid the wall of financial crash.
The Breakdown of the Electric Transition: A Dim Light
Under his leadership, Stellantis was overtaken by Tesla and other BYD on the highway of electric innovation. Where competitors are running at full speed, Stellantis struggles to start, stuck between European regulations and a lack of strategic vision. The fleet of electric Peugeot and Fiat looks more like a used car lot than a pole position on the market.
And when Tavares explains that "European standards hinder innovation," even lobbyists are wide-eyed. One might forgive his skepticism if Stellantis hadn’t let its market share melt like snow in the sun against more competitive and… available Chinese models.
An Exit That Finally Reaches Consensus
When he announced his resignation "with immediate effect" at the beginning of December, the collective irony reached its peak: "Finally a quick and effective decision!" But movie fans can rest assured: this departure looks more like an episode of a dramatic series than the end of a heroic act. The board had already set the succession process in motion, tired of waiting for Carlos to right the ship.
The employees, for their part, celebrate in their own way. In the corridors, jokes fly: "With Tavares, even a 90-degree turn looked like a spin-out." Far from Paris, the stock market takes a hit: Stellantis shares drop 8%, proof that the man left a mark, even in his departure.
A Paradoxical Figure of Industrial Capitalism
Carlos Tavares will remain in the annals as a fascinating and divisive CEO, capable of the best and the worst. Behind the collector of classic cars lies an ultra-efficient but disconnected manager, whose choices often left a bitter taste. Today, he enters legend — if not a museum of electric cars.
In short, Tavares loved speed. But the road of electric automobiles forgives neither distracted drivers nor overconfidence. In this race, he will remain the one who made engines roar… before stalling at the worst moment.
