Stellantis Squashes Rumors of Renault Merger

Stellantis denies rumors that a merger with French automaker Renault could be in the cards.

Italian newspapers sparked the speculation after comments last week by Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, who said in an interview with Bloomberg that the group was “ready for any kind of consolidation” and that its job was to make sure that it would be “one of the winners.”

However, Reuters now reports Chairman John Elkann, who also heads Exor, the Agnelli family holding company and the largest single shareholder in Stellantis, says: “There is no plan under consideration regarding merger operations with other manufacturers.”

Renault has been seen as ripe for a M&A by the markets following its forced withdrawal from the Russian market, its second largest after France, and reducing global cooperation with Alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi following the financial scandal involving former CEO Carlos Ghosn.

This speculation only intensified after the battery-electric-vehicle market slowdown forced it last week to cancel IPO plans for its BEV and software unit Ampere.