On the regional side, there is a shuffling of responsibilities compared with PSA (five regional chiefs) and FCA (four). Mike Manley, the former FCA CEO, becomes head of Americas – but sits on the Strategic and Performance committee.
The heads of North America (Mark Stewart) and South America (Antonio Filosa) sit below him, as regional COOs. Picat, also a regional COO, is head of an enlarged Europe that now includes Eurasia (similar to Toyota Europe), has two deputies. Carl Smiley of FCA, head of India (key for Citroen and Jeep brands) and Asia Pacific, has a deputy to oversee the ASEAN countries.
Samir Cherfan of PSA heads up Middle East and Africa, where the French side has been historically strong and has a key production hub in Morocco. (FCA had put those regions in with Europe.) China – a crucial trouble spot for Tavares — is in flux, with Gregoire Olivier of PSA named only as interim chief.
All of Stellantis’ 14 brand leaders (12 automotive, two mobility) have been elevated to the same status, whereas PSA had five and FCA had four represented in the Group Executive Council (Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Jeep and Maserati). Newcomers to the top level include the heads of Chrysler, Dodge, Lancia and Ram, as well as FCA’s Leasys (financing).
A significant addition to the functions level is design, which was a level report at FCA but not at PSA. Stellantis has two top design bosses: Ralph Gilles from FCA, who oversees Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Maserati and Fiat Latin America (which has its own models); while Jean-Pierre Ploue from PSA will supervise Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Citroen, DS, Fiat, Lancia, Opel/Vauxhall and Peugeot.
The only open position on the functions level, chief technical officer, is a critical one. FCA’s CTO, Harald Wester, becomes head of engineering at Stellantis. PSA’s CTO, Nicholas Morel, now serves as one of two deputies to Wester. The fact that such an important position remains unfilled suggests that Tavares could be looking outside the PSA-FCA talent pool or even from outside the auto industry.
Where Stellantis is all but stellar is in gender representation. FCA had one woman out of 19 top executives, PSA three of 18: Stellantis grows to five — but among 44 top positions.
Finally, some math on the origin of the top representatives at Stellantis:
- On the Strategic and Performance committee, three are from PSA and two from FCA
- On Functions, 10 from PSA and five from FCA
- On Regions, five from PSA and four from FCA
- On Brands, eight from FCA and six from PSA
Overall, 25 executives, including Tavares, come from the PSA side and 18 from FCA (Timothy Kuniskis appears twice as he represents two brands, Dodge and Chrysler).