Stellantis shareholders heard the automaker’s dire warnings that tariffs and CO2 regulations are placing the automotive industry at great “risk” of handing the sector over to China.
Chairman John Elkann tells shareholders at the company’s annual meeting in Amsterdam the dangers affect its two biggest markets, the U.S. and Europe, unless “urgent action” is taken by the governments involved.
Shareholders also learned that a candidate to take over the helm as Stellantis’ new CEO will be announced within the next three months. Reuters reports the company is considering five candidates, including the automaker’s head of its North America business, Antonio Filosa, and its head of procurement, Maxime Picat.
Elkann admitted 2024 “was not a good year for Stellantis” ending with the departure of previous CEO Carlos Tavares over a “misalignment” between him and the board.
Nonetheless, Stellantis shareholders approved a €23.1 million ($26.2 million) final pay package for Tavares supported by 67% of investors.
Elkann emphasized the current ongoing threats to the auto industry are self-inflicted with tariffs in the U.S. and stringent CO2 emissions targets in Europe, handing the advantage to competitors from China.
“This year, the Chinese automobile market is set for the first time ever to be larger than the American and the European markets combined,” he says.
Elkann points out that the U.S. tariffs run deeper than just the blanket 25% on imported vehicles. Automakers also are squeezed by additional tariffs on aluminum, steel and auto parts.
However, he reserved his biggest criticism for EU regulators pushing a CO2 reduction agenda that he says automakers cannot meet.
“In Europe, the CO2 emissions regulations have imposed an unrealistic path to electrification, disconnected from market realities,” Elkann explains. “In fact, governments in Europe, sometimes abruptly, withdrew purchase incentives and the charging infrastructure remains inadequate. As a result, consumers are slow to transition to electric vehicles.
“With the current path of painful tariffs and overly rigid regulations the American and European car industries are being put at risk. That would be a tragedy because car manufacturing is a source of jobs, innovation and strong communities.”
