Stellantis revenue plunges as falling EU and US sales hit car giant

Europe’s second-largest car maker, Stellantis, reported that its net revenues slumped by 27% in its latest earnings update as it aims to slim down its inventory and launch new products.

Troubled carmaker Stellantis reported net revenues of €33bn for the three months to 30 October, which equates to 27% less compared with last year’s €45bn.

The company, which owns various brands including Jeep, Fiat, Peugeot and Citroën, indicated in its quarterly report that the weaker results are mainly due to lower shipments, which were down by 20% year-over-year.

Europe’s second-biggest carmaker reported double-digit dips in revenues from all regions except South America. In North America, it plunged 42% to €12.4bn. Europe revenues dropped 12% to €12.5bn.

The lower shipments are partially due to gaps in launching new products, as well as efforts to reduce overinflated inventories – mainly in North America, where shipments declined by 36%.

“Q3 2024 included production gaps in several models as a global product transition begins, planned North American inventory reductions, and headwinds from a challenging European market environment,” a Stellantis press release said.

The company is in the process of 20 new product launches globally this year.

“While Q3 2024 performance is below our potential, I’m pleased with our progress addressing operational issues, in particular US inventories, which have been reduced meaningfully and are on track for year-end targets, as well as stabilization of US market share,” Doug Ostermann, the company’s CFO, said in the press release.

The US market share rose from 7% in July to 8% in September, and was on track to hit 10% this month, he also said, according to AP.

“The normalisation of our inventory is crucial, just fundamental, to where we need to be to bring the business back into alignment and ensure we have a strong start to 2025,’’ he said in a conference call.

He added that: “In Europe, stringent quality requirements delayed the start of certain high-volume products, but with progress resolving challenges we will soon benefit from the significantly expanded reach our generational new product wave brings to 2025 and beyond.”

Ostermann, who was in charge of Stellantis’ business in China for the last two and a half years, assumed the role of CFO this month as part of a management shakeup that included new heads of operations in North America and Europe.

The moves came after the carmaker issued a profit warning for 2024, citing investments to turn around its US operations amid a wider industry slump and increased Chinese competition.

The maker of Jeep and Ram vehicles is facing the threat of a strike by the United Auto Workers union in North America and is under pressure from Italian lawmakers over steep production cuts in the home country of Stellantis brands Fiat, Maserati and Alfa Romeo.