Stellantis Strategic Plan Lacks Detail; Brands’ Future Questioned
Troubled auto global brand giant Stellantis impressed investors with the scope and ambition of its long-awaited plan to revive the company, but the shares dived as analysts sought details while others were surprised the 14 brands survived intact.
Stellantis published its five-year plan last week, which included the launch of 60 new models by 2030 and the spending of €60 billion ($70 billion) producing them. But there were no factory closures, not were any of the brands killed. 70% of Stellantis spending would be on lead brands Jeep, RAM, Peugeot and Fiat. Chinese partners Leapmotor and Dongfeng would provide electric vehicle technology and use some of Stellantis’s unused factories in Europe to make their own products or badge them with Stellantis brands .
CEO Antonio Filosa has been in charge for just under a year after former CEO Carlos Tavares was terminated. Stellantis has been under pressure in the U.S. and Europe. Earlier this year it announced a €22 billion write-down after over-ambitious EV plans stumbled.
Frank Schwope, automotive consultant and lecturer at FHM Berlin, had expected major surgery to slim down the brands.
The merger between Fiat Chrysler and France’s Groupe PSA in 2021 was named Stellantis and included the 14 brands. Opel, and its British Vauxhall affiliate, had been chronic loss makers when owned by General Motors. Many of the other European brands including Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat and Lancia were rivals in the mass market. DS, Alfa Romeo and Abarth sit in the wannabe premium sector. Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Chrysler were in the U.S. Storied Italian sportscar maker Maserati sits on top of the list.
“Antonio Filosa surprised everyone with the announcement that all brands are to continue,” Schwope said.
“The Maserati name really only has a good ring to it these days; sales figures, on the other hand, are appalling. In terms of image, the brand could carve out a niche between Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari. But its decline in recent years has been alarming,” Schwope said.
“Lancia is really only a brand of relevance to Italy now, although this could certainly be achieved through badge engineering. Citroën, Opel, Chrysler and DS are a bit like the unloved children that still need to be kept on the books. Not all brands will survive the next decade. The group’s future is likely to lie in closer cooperation, possibly even a merger with a Chinese group,” Schwope said.
Steve Young, managing director of the automotive retailing consultancy ICDP , had expected what he called a “culling of the brands and models, particularly in Europe."
In his weekly blog, Young said the five-year plan talked about alliances and collaboration with the objective of improving brand coverage from 50% to 90%.
“This does not address the ‘elephant in the room’ of a huge overlap between Stellantis brands in the same segments, which only makes sense if there is high customer brand loyalty – something that is in decline. The national sales companies and dealer networks may cry out for a full product range, but if customers cross-shop between brands and deals, there is little upside,” Young said.
Pedro Pacheco, senior research director at Gartner Group was among analysts seeking answers.
“After a long wait, Stellantis’s new strategic plan came with a bang, but not all is clear,” Pacheco said in a LinkedIn posting.
“The overarching figures show ambition – after all, €60 billion is a big, fat number. However, the ‘how’ requires more detail,” he said.
Pacheco said despite all those brands Stellantis has lost a quarter of its market share since its inception and needs to recover lost sales.
“Stellantis has been quite busy building all sorts of partnerships. These may lead to lower costs but many of these will also force it to share revenue with partners. Moreover, it also leads to a significant increase in complexity to manage, on top of the long list of brands it has to manage,” Pacheco said.
“It’s also not clear how the company will develop more competitive EV technology to increase its market share. Using platforms from Chinese (manufacturers) seems to be the plan, but that implies a growing dependency on those companies. The more the dependency increases, the harder it will be for Stellantis to strengthen its own EV capabilities,” Pacheco said.
Investment researcher Bernstein agreed that progress had been made, but there was still much work to do.
“We are not convinced that the Stellantis management team has achieved the necessary level of credibility for its (strategic plan) 2030 objectives of 7% Group AOI (Adjusted Operating Income) and €6 billion ($7 billion) Industrial Free Cash flow in 2030 to be accepted without question. Stellantis remains firmly rooted in “show me” territory,” Bernstein said a report. Bernstein rates Stellantis “Market-Perform”.
Shares in Stellantis initially fell sharply after the strategic plan was unveiled late last week. The Financial Times said the shares dived up to 7% before stabilizing. According to Reuters, the shares advanced nearly 1% Tuesday to close at €6.76.
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