Stellantis on track to fix China operations, CEO says

Stellantis, created from the January merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group, is making good progress on revamping its troubled China operations, CEO Carlos Tavares said this week.

“We are on our way to fix it, some of the work is already done,” Tavares said of Stellantis’ China business. He spoke during an online Q&A session Tuesday after the company released a long-term software strategy.

“We are on a good track to get the job done,” he added. 

Fiat Chrysler builds and distributes Jeep models at a Chinese joint venture with GAC Motor Co., while PSA produces and markets Peugeot and Citroen cars at a partnership with Dongfeng Motor Group.

A merger of the two joint ventures is “clearly” needed, which “has been the focus of teams from our two former companies [Fiat Chrysler and PSA],” Tavares noted. 

Stellantis expects to disclose the full blueprint on how to fix the China operations in March 2020 as part of a plan that still needs to clear regulatory oversight, he added.

Stellantis’ two joint ventures -- GAC-Fiat Chrysler and Dongfeng-PSA -- each operate well below production capacity after posting steep sales declines in recent years. 

In the first 11 months of the year, GAC-Fiat Chrysler, which can build 328,000 vehicles at full capacity, saw deliveries shrink to 18,747, according to GAC. The company builds and markets four locally produced Jeep models -- the Cherokee, Renegade, Compass and Grande Commander.

With annual production capacity of more than 1 million vehicles, Dongfeng-PSA only sold 86,553 vehicles in the same period.