The name comes from the Latin verb stello[13] and carries the meaning "of him (latin masculine suffix) that brightens with stars".[17][18][19]
History
In early 2019, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) sought a merger with French automaker Renault and reached a provisional agreement with the company.[20] The behaviour of the French government during negotiations led to the abandonment of the deal; The Economist reported that "for FCA, this portended future interference".[21]Nissan also had various concerns about the impact of the proposal on its alliance with Renault.[21] Subsequently, FCA approached Peugeot S.A. (PSA). The merger agreed to in December 2019, was to create the world's fourth-largest carmaker by global vehicle sales with expected annual cost savings of €3.7 billion, or about US$4.22 billion.[13]
On 21 December 2020, the European Commission approved the merger, while imposing minimal remedies to ensure competition in the sector.[22] The merger was approved on 4 January 2021 by the shareholders of both FCA and PSA. The deal was completed on 16 January 2021. Common shares of the new company began trading on the Milan Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris on 18 January 2021 and on the New York Stock Exchange on 19 January 2021, in each case under the ticker symbol "STLA".[23][24][25]
PSA merged with and into Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. as the surviving company in the merger. On 17 January 2021, the combined company was renamed Stellantis N.V.[26]International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, mandate the identification of the company acting as the acquirer and the company being acquired. Peugeot is considered the acquirer for accounting purposes, and statements reflect PSA's historical records.[26] Per the filing, the Stellantis board had 11 directors, six from PSA and five from Fiat Chrysler.[27]
The new company's first CEO, vested with full authority to represent Stellantis, was Carlos Tavares, the former president of the PSA managing board, as well as former CEO of PSA Group, with a five-year term as Stellantis CEO. PSA shareholders paid a pre-merger premium to FCA shareholders. Exor, the Agnelli family company that was the largest shareholder of FCA, held the largest stake in Stellantis with 14.4%.[28] The merger agreements allowed the Peugeot family to increase its current 7.2% stake in Stellantis by up to an additional 1.5% by acquiring shares from France's state lender Bpifrance, from Dongfeng, or on the market.[29]
The name Stellantis is exclusively used to identify the corporate entity, while group brand names and logos remain unchanged.[13] In 2021, CEO Carlos Tavares issued a challenge for the group's brands to prove themselves within a 10-year window, in exchange for much-needed investment in new models and technology.[30][31][32][33] The group planned to have 29 electrified vehicle models available by the end of 2021.[34] Stellantis planned to develop four EVplatforms by the end of the 2020s.[35][36] Overall, the company announced more than €30bn would be invested by the end of 2021.[37]
A network of charging stations started in November 2021.[38] In the third quarter of 2021, Stellantis sales of new vehicles dropped due to issues related to the supply chain shortage of semiconductor chips used in their vehicles. Stellantis made an agreement with semiconductor manufacturer Foxconn to supply chips for the company and others in the automotive industry.[39] In June 2022, the company paused production at two French plants due to shortages in semiconductors.[40]
In May 2022, Stellantis pleaded guilty to criminal conduct and paid $300 million to settle a probe into its effort to illegally conceal the amount of pollution created by its diesel-engined vehicles. This settled a years-long probe by the United States Department of Justice into the auto maker's efforts to evade emissions requirements for more than 100,000 older models.[41] On 8 July 2022, Stellantis acquired the carsharing platform Share Now.[42][43] Stellantis placed Share Now's operational management under Free2move.[44] In November 2022, Stellantis acquired the Budapest-headquartered autonomous vehicle technology company aiMotive.[45]
On 15 February 2023, Stellantis said it would establish a new software development and engineering hub in Gliwice, Poland.[46]
Brands
The active brand portfolio of Stellantis as of 2022[update] is shown below.[47] This list does not contain any discontinued brands owned by the company which have been placed into dormancy either directly or by its predecessor organisations.
Vice chairman: Robert Peugeot (since January 2021)[51][52]
Board of directors
The executive board of Stellantis has 11 members. Six members come from PSA and leading shareholders (Bpifrance, FFP), including Carlos Tavares, former CEO of PSA, and five others come from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and its main shareholder, Exor.
Stellantis Motorsport is a department led by director and senior vice president Jean-Marc Finot.[58] It is responsible for the motorsport activities of the corporation's brands, divisions, and subsidiaries;
Commercial operation focusing on customer racing with the Peugeot 208 Rally4
Except for Maserati, the four remaining brands belonged to PSA Motorsport, a department of the former PSA Group before the creation of Stellantis.[65]
The Stellantis Motorsport Racing Shop combines Citroën Racing, Peugeot Sport and Opel Motorsports' customer racing distribution and retail sales operations.[66] It is also known as Peugeot Citroën Racing Shop[67] and Peugeot Citroën Opel Racing Shop.[68]
The Stellantis Motorsport Cup is a rally competition run in Belgium, France and Spain using Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa Rally4 cars.[69] The cup originated in Belgium and Luxembourg as PSA Motorsport Cup Belux.[70]
^"stellantis" is the genitive, singular form, male and neutral, of "stellans" - or, also, the present active participe of "stello", in that case still meaning "of (him/that who) brights with stars"
^ ab"Braking bad: A merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Renault is no more". The Economist. London. 8 June 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2021. Sources close to FCA say that the government was constantly second-guessing and renegotiating every aspect of the deal. For FCA, this portended future interference. When France pointed the finger at Nissan as a roadblock, FCA lost patience.