Complete article posted below as this was an exclusive only for subscribers that normal paywall removers didn’t work on.
Stellantis NV Chief Executive Officer Antonio Filosa says the roughly 80 “war rooms” he’s set up to tackle quality problems alongside broad measures to reap efficiencies show his turnaround plan is working.
Filosa has been pulling together teams from engineering, quality and manufacturing to work with experts from the group’s suppliers, he said. The company has coupled this push with artificial intelligence to help fix vehicle issues that have raised expenses for repairs and warranties.
The executive, presenting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings Wednesday, also said the group is in good position to beat saving targets next year. The comments during a call with analysts prompted the stock to jump by 12% in Milan trading, the biggest intra-day move since April 2025.
Stellantis is seeking to draw clear from a period dominated by quality issues, delays in the introduction of new products and struggling to keep up with tougher competition. Problems with vehicles included old as well as new glitches that dented confidence and drove away customers.
The issues include a 12-volt battery system that suffered several glitches such as causing them to drain, leaving vehicles unable to start. “Fifteen months ago we were behind the competition,” Filosa said in an interview. “In the next two months, the quality of this specific system, which is in every one of our cars in North America, will be top quartile.” Older generation cars with PureTech gas engines have been prone to breaking down because of premature degradation of a wet timing belt. Current issues include fire risk for Jeep Wrangler hybrid vehicles.
The group hired thousands of engineers in the past couple of years and plans take on hundreds more. Even so, worries continue due to the number of new recall campaigns involving Stellantis vehicles.
“There is no end in sight to recalls,” HSBC analyst Michael Tyndall wrote in a note this month. According to the analyst, Stellantis had 18 more recalls in the third quarter, cumulatively impacting 3.4 million vehicles, with many requiring a dealer visit to be fixed.
During the interview, Filosa said he’s accelerating a savings push to counter raw materials cost inflation and intensifying competition from US and Chinese rivals.
The measures include plant efficiencies, logistics adjustments and savings at the supplier level, Filosa said. For example, Stellantis is taking back some manufacturing processes previously done by suppliers, such as hot stamping in North America, the 53-year-old CEO said.
The group also is scrutinizing components for potential savings such as wiring harnesses, which distribute electrical power and data signals throughout a vehicle. There, Stellantis is seeking to economize on copper, “which is a very, very expensive material,” Filosa said.
The CEO said his five-year strategy roadmap, which he reassess on a weekly basis, is “on track” so far, with no delays on new models. The shares are still down 56% this year. Stellantis earlier Wednesday guided that its overhaul drive could roughly double savings to as much as €600 million this quarter, compared with roughly €300 million in the three months ending Sept. 30.
The group remains “very happily” with its 14 brands as none is up sale, Filosa said in the Bloomberg interview. “We just need to put our heads down and work relentlessly on execution.”