Stellantis aims to make its brands among the most reliable in the market, and is investing in quality by hiring 2,000 engineers.
Carlos Tavares' shadow looms large. Even though almost two years have passed since he left Stellantis, his aggressive cost-cutting policies have had a lasting impact on the automaker. Under the leadership of its new CEO, Antonio Filosa, the company is making every effort to address the quality and reliability issues that plagued its models in the past.
The Franco-Italian-American group has hired over 2,000 engineers dedicated to identifying and resolving problems more quickly so they don’t reach customers. Filosa claims the company is making an unprecedentedly large-scale effort by establishing fifty specialized "crisis rooms" to tackle such failures "very, very, very fast."
The executive wants to make quality a priority. "Our goal is to reach the top quartile in quality across all segments and markets where we compete by 2028, and we will achieve it." In other words, Filosa aims for all its vehicles to be in the top 25% of the market in terms of quality within two years, a clearly very ambitious goal.
At the beginning of the year, Filosa described the situation as a complete restart. "We are restructuring execution and improving quality management processes to address operational issues stemming from previous decisions." Cost cuts directly affected engineering resources, which in turn impacted quality.
Stellantis recently announced a complete restructuring
The quality director, Sébastien Jacquet, is now part of Stellantis’ strategic leadership team. Some of the group’s brands such as Citroën and Peugeot have launched initiatives like extended warranties to reassure buyers. This is in addition to an ambitious product rollout planned for the coming years.
The five-year FaSTLAne 2030 strategy includes investments of 60 billion euros to accelerate the company’s growth and profitability. This plan has six main pillars: more precise management of its brand portfolio; investment in platforms, propulsion systems, and global technologies; strategic partnerships; optimization of the manufacturing footprint; excellence in execution; and strengthening of regional and local teams.
From now on, Stellantis will have four global brands (FIAT, Jeep, Peugeot, RAM) and five regional brands (Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, Opel). These global brands, along with the Pro One commercial vehicles division, will receive 70% of investments in brands and products. DS Automobiles and Lancia will be managed by Citroën and FIAT, developing as specialized brands. By 2030, Stellantis will launch more than 60 new models (29 battery electric vehicles, 15 plug-in or extended-range electric vehicles, 24 hybrids, and 39 conventional/mild-hybrid vehicles), in addition to 50 model updates.
Source | Motor1
