Stellantis Expects Modest 2025 TurnaroundStellantis Expects Modest 2025 Turnaround

Troubled automaker group Stellantis is promising a return to revenue growth and cash generation after a disastrous 2024 that resulted in the ousting of CEO Carlos Tavares.

Presenting end-of-year financial results, the company forecasts a “mid-single-digit” operating profit for 2025.

Even this will be a significant turnaround from the previous year in which operating margins slumped to 5.5%, down from 12.8% in 2023, on a disappointing adjusted operating income of €8.6 billion ($9 billion).

Total revenues fell 17% last year, to 157 billion euros ($165 billion), with a 12% drop in global shipments blamed on “temporary gaps” in the product range and “now-complete inventory reduction initiatives,” according to Stellantis.

Net profit was down 70% to €5.5 billion ($5.7 billion) compared to €18.6 billion ($19.5 billion) reported in 2023.

Once hugely profitable under Tavares, Stellantis was hit in 2024 by slumping sales and overloaded inventories, especially in the U.S., as it raised prices too high, losing longstanding customers. Ultimately, it had to cut production and discount heavily to clear product languishing on dealer lots, hitting its profitability and wiping billions off its market value.

Chairman John Elkann says in a statement accompanying the 2024 results, “We are firmly focused on gaining market share and improving financial performance as 2025 progresses.”

Analysts at Citi tell the Reuters news agency in a note that margin recovery could occur only from next year.

They add: “It is very hard to turn around car companies. Replacing the product range and re-pricing it at attractive levels for consumers is a long-term and expensive process.”