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Jan - Feb 2021
Continued from Page 3 FCA and PSA have said Stellan s can cut annual costs by over 5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) without plant closures, and investors will be keen for more details on how it will do this. Marco San no, a partner at consultants Oliver Wyman, said he expected Tavares to disclose the outlines of his ac on plan soon, but without divulging too many details at first. “He has proven to be the kind of person who prefers ac on to words, so I don’t think he will make loud statements or try to over-sell targets,” he said. Like all global automakers, Stellan s needs to invest billions in the years ahead to transform its vehicle range for the electric era. But other pressing tasks loom, including reviving the group’s lagging fortunes in China, ra onalizing its huge global empire and addressing massive overcapacity. “It will be a step-by-step process, also to allow the market be er appreciate every single move. I don’t think we will have all the details before one year,” San no said. FCA CEO Mike Manley, who will head Stellan s’ key North American opera ons, has said 40 percent of the carmaker’s expected synergies would come from convergence of pla orms and powertrains and from op mizing R&D investments, 35 percent from savings on purchases, and another 7 percent from savings on sales operaons and general expenses. Source: Autonews.com
Tavares: FCA, PSA are better off meeting challenges together The world’s newest automaker, Stellan s, is building a strategic plan from the ground up as it looks to go on the offensive and show that innova on isn’t limited to startups, its CEO says. Carlos Tavares, in an exclusive interview with Automo ve News, said he worked for “many months” to assemble the company’s leadership team announced Tuesday. The merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group closed Saturday, and the combined en ty now must mesh its disparate cultures and the opera ons of 14 brands on either side of the Atlan c Ocean in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. “There is an ongoing COVID crisis, but the two companies are not in crisis,” Tavares said. They “have a robust financial posi on, they have been opera ng properly and they are crea ng value, so there is no crisis on this merger. It’s all about two teams that understand a er they turn around their own companies, at one point in me, that we are be er off to be facing the future challenges together than in the standard opposi on, which demonstrates a high level of maturity.” Tavares, who had been PSA’s CEO since 2014, said the two companies understood “they could con nue to be on a standalone basis, but they remember what happened when they had to turn around their [businesses] in the last few years, and they understand how difficult it was and they see the challenges coming.” Continued on Page 5
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