Carlos Tavares

Carlos Antunes Tavares Dias (born 14 August 1958) is a Portuguese businessman. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Stellantis, the world's fourth largest automaker by sales,[1] formed by the merger of the PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. He was formerly the chief operating officer at Renault.[2]

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Tavares and the second or paternal family name is Dias.
Carlos Tavares
Tavares in 2018
Born (1958-08-14) 14 August 1958
Lisbon, Portugal
EducationLycée français Charles-Lepierre
École Centrale Paris
OccupationCEO of Stellantis
Children3

Early life

Family

Carlos Tavares was born in 1958 in Lisbon, his father was an accountant working for a French insurer and his mother was a French teacher.[3] His passion for cars came at the age of 14 when he discovered motor racing, during an open day at the Estoril circuit, near Lisbon.[4]

Education

After studying at the Lycée français Charles-Lepierre in Lisbon, he left his native country for France at the age of 17 to follow a preparatory course in maths at the Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat in Toulouse. He then graduated as an engineer from the École Centrale Paris in 1981.[5]

Career

Renault

Carlos Tavares held different positions within the Renault Group. [6] Tavares started his career at Renault, at the age of 23, as a test-driving engineer in 1981.[4][7][8] He was director of the Renault Mégane II project.[4][9]

Between 2004 and 2011, he worked for Nissan, Renault's partner in the Renault–Nissan Alliance (now Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance), first as programme director and then as vice-president, product strategy and product planning.[10][11][4] In 2005 Tavares was appointed executive vice-president, joining the board of directors.[11] By 2009, he oversaw Nissan's presence in North and South America.[4]

By 2011, he moved back to Renault to become chief operating officer, the number two executive under Carlos Ghosn, the chairman and chief executive officer of Renault and Nissan.[12] Tavares had much in common with Ghosn, as both were "raised in Portuguese-speaking environments. Both went on to graduate from French Grandes Ecoles and - perhaps less surprisingly - both like fast cars." However, on August 15, 2013, Tavares said publicly that he wanted to become CEO at an automaker. It was said that Tavares was ambitious and sought more responsibilities at Renault, however, Ghosn was only four years older and had no plans to step aside soon. Reportedly, Ghosn demanded that Tavares apologize to staff for the gaffe and Tavares refused. Instead he resigned from Renault on August 29, 2013.[13]

PSA Group

Tavares became CEO and chairman of the managing board of Groupe PSA in 2014, replacing Philippe Varin.[12] During his tenure, he spearheaded cost-cutting measures and increased the company's market share in China, which returned Groupe PSA back to profitability after several years of losses.[2][14] In 2014, under his leadership, DS Automobiles was established as a stand-alone brand.[15]

As CEO, he gathered praise for the PSA take over of Opel and return to profitability of Opel, and for PSA's record sales and profits. However, PSA sales in China slipped again.[16] Furthermore, he instigated the merger of PSA with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.[17]

Stellantis

In January 2021, PSA Group merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to form Stellantis. Tavares became its first CEO.[6] At Stellantis' first press conference, Tavares said he planned to save 5 billion euros a year in terms of investment, sharing of engines and platforms, and development.[18] He also announced that he wanted to relaunch the most fragile brands, which could benefit from new investments.[19]

During the 2022 French presidential election, incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and opposing candidate Marine Le Pen both called Tavares' 2021 compensation package – around Euro 19 million ($20.5 million), plus a stock package worth some additional Euro 32 million and long-term compensation of about Euro 25 million – "shocking".[20]

As the CEO, Tavares has raised concerns of an "invasion" from Chinese EV companies that, along with the American carmaker Tesla, are offering more affordable models compared to their European competitors. From 2021 to 2022, the European market share of Chinese EV manufacturers doubled to almost 9%.[21]

Other activities
  • Faurecia, Member of the Board of Directors (between 2014 and 2019)[22][23]
  • Airbus, Member of the Board of Directors (between 2016 and 2022)[24][25]
  • Total, Member of the Board of Directors (between 2017 and 2020)[26]

Personal life

Tavares is married and father of three children.[27] He is also known to be close to the former Prime Minister of Portugal José Sócrates.[28]

Racing driver

Passionate about cars, he already volunteered at the age of 14 to be a track marshal on the Estoril circuit.[29] He has been an amateur racing driver since the age of twenty-two.[4]

In 1983, he started as a driver in rallies and endurance races with his friends Bruno Cébile, as co-driver, and Arnaud Montagné, as technical assistant. He notably participated in the Monte-Carlo Rally and he has his own team Clementeam Racing, by analogy with his daughter's first name.[2]

In 2014, together with Jean-Louis Dauger, Denis Gibaud and Jérôme Maudet, Carlos Tavares won the A2 class of the Barcelona 24 Hours with a Peugeot RCZ Cup operated by Milan Competition.[30]

He also collects classic cars and owns a Peugeot 504 V6 Coupé from 1979, an Alpine A110 from 1976 and a Porsche 912 from 1966.[2]

He is a member of the jury at the Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille 2017 and 2019, an automobile elegance competition.[31][32]

  • Carlos Tavares at the Spa Classic in 2019
    Carlos Tavares at the Spa Classic in 2019
  • Carlos Tavares at the Chantilly Arts & Elegance in 2017
    Carlos Tavares at the Chantilly Arts & Elegance in 2017

Awards

In 2019, Tavares won the 'Manager of the Year' award at the 15th edition of BFM Awards. [33] Later, in 2020, he was given the award of 'World Car Person of the year'.[34][35] In 2022, Tavares was chosen as the 'Eurostar' for Group CEO by Automotive News Europe.[36]

References
  1. Malan, Andrea (January 5, 2021). "Stellantis' global ranking hit by Europe, China weakness".
  2. Michael Stothard, Classic rally car driving with the FT: Carlos Tavares, Financial Times, March 6, 2015
  3. "Les petits secrets de Carlos Tavares, nouveau patron de Renault". Capital.fr (in French). 2011-09-05. Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  4. Mike Ramsey, Renault's Carlos Tavares: Meet the Next Auto Boss, The Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2012
  5. "PSA Peugeot: Executive Committee". Archived from the original on 2015-04-17. Retrieved 2015-04-14.
  6. "Big Three Auto Executives 2022: Stellantis". DBusiness. 23 November 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  7. "Carlos Tavares, a Top Executive at Renault, Resigns". The New York Times. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  8. "Tavares L'autre Carlos". Les Echos. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  9. "Les Barons de la Bourse". Zonebourse.com. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  10. "Renault names Nissan U.S. boss Carlos Tavares as new COO". Reuters. 30 May 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  11. "Renault boss Carlos Tavares leaves (30 August 2013)". Autocar India. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  12. Michael Stothard, Henry Foy, Peugeot taps former Renault executive Carlos Tavares as chief, Financial Times, November 25, 2013
  13. "Carlos vs. Carlos: Peugeot move turns double-act to rivalry". March 3, 2014 – via www.reuters.com.
  14. "Carlos Tavares' next frontier". Automotive News. October 24, 2016.
  15. "PSA boss Tavares wants DS to become stand-alone brand". Automotive News Europe. March 4, 2014.
  16. "How Tavares turned around PSA and Opel". Automotive News. 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  17. "Tavares has car manual for fixing Fiat Chrysler". Automotive News Europe. 2019-12-18. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  18. Caradisiac.com. "Stellantis: les premières annonces de Carlos Tavares après la fusion PSA-Fiat". Caradisiac.com (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  19. "Stellantis ne laissera aucune marque au garage, promet Tavares". blue News (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  20. Benoit Van Overstraeten and Leigh Thomas (15 April 2022), France's Macron, Le Pen call Stellantis CEO's pay package "shocking" Reuters.
  21. Guillaume, Gilles; Piovaccari, Giulio (27 July 2023). "Western car makers look to slash EV costs to fight Chinese 'invasion'". Reuters.
  22. "Faurecia: Tavares au conseil d'administration". Le Figaro. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  23. "Nomination de Grégoire Olivier au Conseil d'Administration". Faurecia. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  24. Airbus Group Proposes New Board Members For Approval At AGM Airbus, press release of 17 March 2016.
  25. "Carlos Tavares quittera le conseil d'administration d'Airbus en 2022". Les Échos. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  26. Bourse, Zone. "Total: Carlos Tavares va quitter le conseil d'administration". www.zonebourse.com (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  27. Anne-Sophie Lechevallier, 'Carlos Tavares - L'homme providentiel de PSA', in Paris Match, 28 November 2013, p. 44
  28. "Carlos Tavares ou l'homme qui mène PSA à la baguette". Challenges (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  29. "Portrait - Carlos Tavares, directeur général délégué de Renault : Autophile". Challenges (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  30. "Jean-Louis Dauger et Vaillante-Mirage au Mans : "Raconter de belles histoires" | Endurance info" (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  31. "« Chantilly Arts & Elegance » Richard Mille, un must de l'élégance et de l'art de vivre !!". Les Nouvelles de Paris. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  32. "Les plus belles voitures du Monde & Ferrari à l'honneur @ « Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille » by Peter Auto !!". Les Nouvelles de Paris. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  33. "Carlos Tavares, élu manager de l'année aux BFM Awards 2019". BFMTV. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  34. "Finalists For 2020 World Car Awards Dominated By Mazda, Porsche And Kia". Forbes. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  35. "Groupe PSA : Carlos Tavares élu personnalité automobile « mondiale » de l'année". The Automobilist. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  36. "2022 Eurostar winner Carlos Tavares of Stellantis". Automotive News Europe. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
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