Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Stellantis denies hiring Apple's Luca Maestri to solve its massive problems

Luca Maestri -- image credit: Apple

Netherlands car firm Stellantis may be best known for buying Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Chrysler, but it says it is definitely not buying ex-Apple CFO Luca Maestri.

Stellantis cars waited until its shares rose before denying reports that it has hired ex-Apple CFO Luca Maestri as its new CEO. And that rise in shares is among the best news it's had in a while, as its car sales reportedly fell 14% in 2024 — and its profits nearly halved.

In comparison, Maestri went out on a high as Apple's Chief Financial Officer in October 2024. He has been replaced there by Kevan Parekh, though reportedly Maestri has just moved down the hall at Apple Park and isn't going anywhere.

According to CNBC however, a spokesperson for the Netherlands car company Stellantis has denied that Maestri is taking over. "It is not true," said the spokesperson.

Okay. The spokesperson's report was backed up by an unspecified source who said hiring Maestri was "fake news."

Apparently the original claim came from local newspaper Corriere della Sera. It didn't exactly come from nowhere, but doesn't appear to have come from somewhere.

Instead, it follows the news that Stellantis last CEO, Carlos Tavares, resigned from the company after "different views" between him and the board. Those views probably concerned the steep drop in profits that CNBC says Stellantis suffered after its initially highly successful 2023 sales.

Reportedly, 2024 saw its huge downturn because Stellantis was not updating its cars or refreshing its lineups as much as competitors were. Rising costs also deterred customers, and quality control suffered too.

So it was perhaps not a surprise that the board and Tavares had a difference of opinion over whether he kept his job. Following his announced resignation, the local newspaper then reported that chairman John Elkann was planning to appoint Maestri, on the grounds of little more than "why not?"

Although Maestri was previously rumored, possibly with no greater reason, when Elkann was recruiting for a CEO for Ferrari around 2021. Ferrari went with a chipmaking veteran, so it isn't unknown for someone with a technology background to take over a car company.

And having Maestri rumored to take over did make shares in Stellantis rise in initial trading. So maybe Stellantis is now a more attractive option for Maestri.

Although according to Mopar Insiders, whatever that is, ex-CEO Tavares made around $26 million in 2023, including bonuses. Maestri, according to CFO, made $26.9 million.

Perhaps the Netherlands car company has a great relocation package.



10 Comments

tht 24 Years · 5669 comments

If the strategy isn't developing & manufacturing batteries and transitioning to EVs as fast as possible, all they are doing is fighting for a part of an increasingly smaller pie, and eventual death. Feels like the game is already over with Chinese battery and EV prices hitting some pretty impressive low prices this year though.

A wartime-like mobilization of battery manufacturing and development is needed by all the incumbents to catch up.

Really wish Apple made an EV.

1 Like · 0 Dislikes
crofford 9 Years · 99 comments

"Ferrari went with a chipmaking veteran, so it isn't unknown for someone with a technology background to take over a car company."Yet another example of a CEO that doesn't know crap about their product.  He's managing the stock price not the company.  He wants the company to be a fashion house. He's ruining the brand and it's already catching up to him. As a member of the Ferrari community and long time, multi car owner, they no longer make cars that I'm interested in and that opinion is shared by many.

3 Likes · 0 Dislikes
charlesn 12 Years · 1219 comments

tht said:
If the strategy isn't developing & manufacturing batteries and transitioning to EVs as fast as possible, all they are doing is fighting for a part of an increasingly smaller pie, and eventual death. Feels like the game is already over with Chinese battery and EV prices hitting some pretty impressive low prices this year though.

A wartime-like mobilization of battery manufacturing and development is needed by all the incumbents to catch up.

Really wish Apple made an EV.

All true... but companies need government support for this kind of initiative, which is how the Chinese achieved their dominance in EVs, while the U.S. has an incoming administration that's about to gut the minimal support that currently exists, like EV tax credits, so we can stay committed to gas engines. Musk doesn't mind, since this will hobble his domestic EV competition far more than it does Tesla. One day American idiots will wake up and realize that American automakers can't survive on the domestic market alone, but too late since the Chinese will already own the global auto market. Even if you don't care a whit about climate change, this is about the future (or not) of one of the few major manufacturing industries left in the U.S. With the quality, pricing and technological advancement of their cars, the Chinese would already own the U.S. EV market if it wasn't for high tariffs keeping them out. This is why most Americans have no idea how far ahead of us the Chinese are in EVs. 

4 Likes · 0 Dislikes
tht 24 Years · 5669 comments

charlesn said:
tht said:
If the strategy isn't developing & manufacturing batteries and transitioning to EVs as fast as possible, all they are doing is fighting for a part of an increasingly smaller pie, and eventual death. Feels like the game is already over with Chinese battery and EV prices hitting some pretty impressive low prices this year though.

A wartime-like mobilization of battery manufacturing and development is needed by all the incumbents to catch up.

Really wish Apple made an EV.
All true... but companies need government support for this kind of initiative, which is how the Chinese achieved their dominance in EVs, while the U.S. has an incoming administration that's about to gut the minimal support that currently exists, like EV tax credits, so we can stay committed to gas engines. Musk doesn't mind, since this will hobble his domestic EV competition far more than it does Tesla. One day American idiots will wake up and realize that American automakers can't survive on the domestic market alone, but too late since the Chinese will already own the global auto market. Even if you don't care a whit about climate change, this is about the future (or not) of one of the few major manufacturing industries left in the U.S. With the quality, pricing and technological advancement of their cars, the Chinese would already own the U.S. EV market if it wasn't for high tariffs keeping them out. This is why most Americans have no idea how far ahead of us the Chinese are in EVs. 

Yeah, the USA, European countries, basically the economies you can classify as incumbents who have been big for the past 50 years, are moribund, trapped in their cultural and economic debt. Same old story. Same old innovator's dilemma. Not worried about "manufacturing". It's really worker productivity, and the USA increased white collar productivity and let blue collar manufacturing work decrease. (Or it's really that blue collar manufacturing didn't grow as fast as white collar work?)

I'm getting pessimistic that the USA can get themselves to compete in the technoscience-economies that will be driving future markets. It basically involves training your workforce to be scientifically and technically competent. There will be designer medical treatments to treat people's conditions. Gene therapies, designer medications (compounds that don't exist in nature but are designed), democratization of those treatments, solar+battery for everything, designer crops, closed-cycle water and other materials. A lot of this stuff is incubated in USA colleges, companies and government institutions.

There's cultural compartmentalization going on that maintains the USA's techno-science competency. That can't go away. If people start going to college in China, Korea, Japan, et al, to learn how to do those things, it will basically mean the USA has fallen 20 years behind. That's really the easy sign. Students start going to non-USA universities over American ones. If that happens, it's a generational issue.

1 Like · 0 Dislikes
602warren 9 Years · 74 comments

tht said:
If the strategy isn't developing & manufacturing batteries and transitioning to EVs as fast as possible, all they are doing is fighting for a part of an increasingly smaller pie, and eventual death. Feels like the game is already over with Chinese battery and EV prices hitting some pretty impressive low prices this year though.

A wartime-like mobilization of battery manufacturing and development is needed by all the incumbents to catch up.

Really wish Apple made an EV.

Are you for real? lol. Every single auto manufacturer is walking back their EV plans over consumer backlash. Heck, Dodge said the next Charger was going to be EV only and they’ve already apologized and promised a 3.0L twin turbo ICE called the Hurricane. The only people who think full EVs are the future are you and Elon. The resale value on a Tesla should tell you that’s never going to happen. Losing 50% of its value in less than a year is absolutely hilarious. The future for stellantis is continued development of ICE vehicles and hybrids, not full EVs. Even with added infrastructure and additional charging stations, EVs will never beat being able to gas up in 5 min or less and be on your way.

4 Likes · 0 Dislikes