Stellantis hit by sales slide in US and Europe

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Stellantis’s revenue fell 27 per cent in the third quarter as the owner of Peugeot, Fiat and Jeep suffered sharp sales declines in the US and Europe.

But shares in the group rose 1.6 per cent in pre-market trading on Thursday as the company said its US market share was improving and that it was on track to resolve high inventories in North America by the end of the year.

The results follow a sweeping management shake-up by chief executive Carlos Tavares after US inventory problems forced the group to sharply reduce its annual profit guidance.

For the three months to the end of September, Stellantis reported revenue of €33bn, down from €45.1bn a year earlier, as vehicle shipments fell 36 per cent in North America and 17 per cent in Europe.

The group said on Thursday that it had reduced inventory in North America by 80,000 from late June to 1.3mn vehicles.

“Normalisation of our inventory is crucial. It’s just fundamental to where we need to be to bring the business back into alignment and ensure that we have a strong start to 2025,” its new chief financial officer Doug Ostermann said on Thursday.

He added that the group’s market share in North America had improved from 7.2 per cent in July to 8 per cent in September, although that is still lower than 9.4 per cent a year earlier.

The company did not release a quarterly profit figure but maintained its recently revised full-year guidance for an adjusted operating margin of 5.5 to 7 per cent, down from an earlier projection of 10 per cent. It has also warned that its free cash flow will turn negative.

Tom Narayan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said that while the results were in line with the company’s previous warning, the key question was “whether it can reduce dealer inventories . . . without sacrificing too much on price in North America”, since discounts on vehicles will hurt its suppliers and dealers more broadly.

Until just six months ago, the group, born out of a 2021 merger between Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA, had outperformed its rivals with a strong balance sheet, a vibrant US operation and a flexible electric strategy.

But the company has been caught up in the broader headwinds affecting the industry, with slower growth in electric vehicle sales and increased competition from Chinese rivals. Stellantis’s board has also begun a search for a successor to Tavares in preparation for the end of his contract in early 2026.

Like Germany’s Volkswagen, Stellantis is also under intense pressure from Italian politicians and unions to keep its oldest Fiat factory in Turin running despite a sharp slide in sales.

Volkswagen on Wednesday reported a 64 per cent drop in quarterly net profit amid slowing China sales and restructuring charges. Europe’s largest carmaker has told its powerful works council that it plans to close three plants and lay off tens of thousands of workers, marking its most radical restructuring measure in the company’s 87-year history.