Stellantis Executives Finally Get What They Want: ‘Freedom’

The 2025 Detroit Auto Show was very different from those of recent memory. Formerly the North American International Auto Show, this was once a world-leading venue brimming with new vehicle debuts, concept cars, and executives hanging out in million-dollar display booths ready to brag about their companies.

This year there were no debuts. There were no new concepts. And the handful of manufacturer displays were largely devoid of corporate suits—except for one.

Nearly every executive for Stellantis brands under Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was in Detroit. Christine Feuell, CEO for Chrysler and Alfa Romeo. Dodge CEO Matt McAlear. Bob Broderdorf, head of Jeep In North America. Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis, fresh out of retirement. Add in other product managers and Team Stellantis was in force, glowing in an otherwise subdued, half-empty auto show hall.

And their demeanor contrasted sharply with the rough sales year each brand just experienced.

The presence of these FCA bosses and their exceedingly positive vibe sent a very clear message: Things have changed for the better at Stellantis.

To be clear, there wasn’t a single mention of former CEO Carlos Tavares from anyone, negative or otherwise. When Associate Editor Anthony Alaniz and I asked about Tavares’ sudden resignation and how it might affect operations, the responses all had a similar theme: We have freedom to make decisions.

“The leadership that [Stellantis Chairman John Elkann and Chief Operating Officer Antonio Filosa] have shown all of us, and the trust and opportunity to make changes is incredible,” said Broderdorf. “The words they used were ‘we trust you, we understand you know how to do this, you understand our audience, we’re going to give you the freedom to do that.’ And they’ve quickly allowed us to do that.”

“I think the biggest thing is just taking the control and pushing it back out to the regions,” said McAlear.

When asked point blank about his return to Ram, Kuniskis denies it was due to Tavares resigning. But he was highly critical of the Ram 1500 refresh strategy implemented while Tavares was in charge, a strategy that eliminated the Hemi—an engine only Tavares reportedly wanted dead.

“We put all our trucks in one plant last year,” he said. “We put new technology in the truck. We put a new electrical architecture in the truck. We put a new engine in the truck, and we changed its physical appearance. You should never ever do those five things at once in this industry, and we did it. We lumped too much on human beings to do at one time, and they couldn’t do it. We never hit our volume numbers, and when we were struggling we tried to make it easier by focusing on certain trims. That’s a huge piece of why our business was so bad last year.”

Photo by: Motor1.com

With Tavares out of the picture, Kuniskis has some freedom to explore a possible return of the Hemi.

“Even if we said let’s do it, we can’t do it right away. I didn’t say you can’t do it… you can’t do it right away.”

Chris Feuell was the only one to shy away from definitive praise or criticism about the current state of Stellantis. She remained vague about vehicles based on the Halcyon concept despite recent news about a new car and SUV in the works. However, she did suggest there’s more freedom now to position Chrysler uniquely within the Stellantis hierarchy of North American brands.

“If you think about how Dodge, Jeep, and Ram are positioned in the showroom—high-performance muscle car, off-road adventure, truck performance, and built to serve, this space of community is a really unique space for Chrysler that I think significantly differentiates it for any other brand in the showroom, and the designs do, too,” she said. “We’ll finally have a strong resemblance across the whole lineup once we get the cadence of new products going in 2026.”

Photo by: Stellantis

Stellantis is currently looking for a new CEO to replace Tavares, a search that should end sometime in the next few months. Of course, there’s no guarantee the new boss won’t come in and change everything. Given the friction between Tavares and the board prior to his departure, not to mention all the damage control Stellantis has undertaken with its dealer network in the US and abroad, we suspect the next leader won’t rock the boat too hard.

“The energy is high right now,” said Broderdorf, smiling.