Inside Stellantis’s peace mission to defuse wrath at Tavares

Stellantis is mending fences in the aftermath of the stormy leadership of Carlos Tavares, which delivered incredible profits but also badly damaged relationships with unions, dealers, politicians and suppliers.

“Those are areas where clearly I think we need to build back trust,” Stellantis chief financial officer Doug Ostermann told a banking conference in December.

The multinational giant’s interim leadership, chaired by Fiat heir John Elkann, spent much of December on a peace mission following Tavares’s abrupt departure at the beginning of the month.