Stellantis shares plummeted 25% Friday after the company revealed a $26.5 billion charge related to an overhaul of its business – including a retreat from its electric vehicle ambitions.
The automaker – home to brands like Jeep, Ram and Dodge – were recently down $2.43 from the previous day’s close at $7.11 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares in the automaker also slid by a quarter of their value in Milan.
If those losses last through Friday afternoon, it would mark the stock’s largest one-day drop on record – wiping more than 5 billion euros off the Franco-Italian group’s market cap, according to LSEG data.
Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said Friday that the company – the world’s fourth-largest automaker by volume – plans to move forward as one group despite speculation it would be better off selling off some brands.
“Stellantis is a very strong global company that is very proud to have very deep regional groups,” Filosa, an Italian native who took the helm last summer, said during a call with reporters.
“It makes all of sense to stay together. We want to stay together for many years to come.”
Stellantis said the vast majority of charges – $17.3 billion, or 14.7 billion euros – are related to realigning product plans with customer preferences, specifically noting a pullback in fully-electric products, and new US emission regulations.
It also noted a $2.5 billion charge from paring down its EV supply chain, $4.8 billion in warranty costs and $1.5 billion related to restructuring European operations.
Ford and General Motors also recently revealed billions of dollars in charges related to reduced electric vehicle plans at $19.5 billion and $7.6 billion, respectively. But Stellantis’ charge dwarfed both of these automakers’ and came in much larger than expected.
Filosa on Friday called the restructuring efforts an “important strategic reset of our business model, with the only intention to put our customer preferences back at the center of what we do globally and in each regions.”
In a statement, the company said it would remain at the forefront of EV developments – but its own electric offerings would move at “a pace that needs to be governed by demand rather than command.”
He added that the “mission is to grow” after years of declining market share – though he did not rule out potentially shrinking some of the company’s portfolio, including US brands like Chrysler and Italian ones like Fiat and Alfa Romeo.
Shares were also hammered Friday by the automaker’s dismal forecasts. It is expecting to report a net loss for 2025. Its full-year earnings will be released Feb. 26.
For 2026, the automaker forecast a mid-single-digit percentage increase in net revenue and a low-single-digit increase in adjusted operating income margin.
Filosa also nodded to the impact on the company from “previous poor operational execution,” nodding to a global sales slump under former CEO Carlos Tavares.
Stellantis was formed in 2021 through a $52 billion merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and French firm Groupe PSA.
Credit: Source link
