Carlos Tavares (born 14 August 1958) is a Portuguese businessman, and the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

(CEO) of

Stellantis Stellantis N.V. is a multinational automotive manufacturing corporation formed in 2021 on the basis of a 50–50 cross-border merger between the Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group. The comp ...

, the world's sixth largest automaker by sales, formed by the merger of the

PSA Group The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...

and

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) was an Italian-American multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, commercial vehicles, auto parts and production systems. The Italian holding company Exor was the largest ...

. He was formerly the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

.Michael Stothard
Classic rally car driving with the FT: Carlos Tavares
''Financial Times'', March 6, 2015

Early life

Family

Carlos Tavares was born in 1958 in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, his father was an accountant working for a French insurer and his mother was a French teacher. His passion for cars came at the age of 14 when he discovered motor racing, during an open day at the

Estoril circuit The Circuito do Estoril or Autódromo do Estoril (Estoril Circuit), officially known as Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva, is a motorsport race track on the Portuguese Riviera, outside of Lisbon, owned by state-run holding management company Pa ...

, near Lisbon.Mike Ramsey
Renault's Carlos Tavares: Meet the Next Auto Boss
''The Wall Street Journal'', December 20, 2012

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 The Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat, also referred to simply as Pierre-de-Fermat, is a public Lycée, located in the ''Parvis des Jacobins'' in Toulouse, in the immediate vicinity of the Place du Capitole; It occupies a large space in the city center i ...

in Toulouse. He then graduated as an engineer from the

École centrale Paris École Centrale Paris (ECP; also known as École Centrale or Centrale) was a French grande école in engineering and science. It was also known by its official name ''École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures''. In 2015, École Centrale Paris mer ...

in 1981.

Career

Renault

Tavares started his career at

in 1981. He was director of the

Renault Mégane The Renault Mégane () is a small family car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault for model year 1996, and was the successor to the Renault 19. The Mégane has been offered in three- and five-door hatchback, saloon, coupé, converti ...

II project. Between 2004 and 2011, he worked for

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

, 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. In 2005 Tavares was appointed executive vice-president, joining the board of directors. By 2009, he oversaw Nissan's presence in North and South America. By 2011, he moved back to Renault to become

, the number two executive under

Carlos Ghosn Carlos Ghosn (; ; ar, كارلوس غصن; , born 9 March 1954) is a businessman who holds Brazilian and French nationality. Ghosn was the CEO of Michelin North America, chairman and CEO of Renault, chairman of AvtoVAZ, chairman and CEO of Ni ...

, the chairman and chief executive officer of Renault and Nissan.Michael Stothard, Henry Foy
Peugeot taps former Renault executive Carlos Tavares as chief
''Financial Times'', November 25, 2013 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, Tavares resigned from Renault on August 29, 2013, two weeks after publicly saying that he wanted to become CEO at an automaker, and Tavares reportedly refusing Ghosn's demand that he apologize to staff for the gaffe. 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.

PSA Group

Tavares has served as the chief executive officer and Chairman of the Managing Board of Groupe PSA since 2014, replacing . During his tenure, he has 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. In 2014, under his leadership,

DS Automobiles DS Automobiles is a French Luxury car, luxury vehicle marque which was introduced in 2009. Formerly part of Citroën, DS has been a standalone brand since 2015 (2012 in China). DS can be an abbreviation of Different Spirit or Distinctive Series, ...

is created as a stand-alone brand. Tavares became CEO of

Groupe PSA The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...

in 2014. As CEO, he gathered praise for the PSA take over of

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

and return to profitability of Opel, and for PSA's record sales and profits. However, PSA sales in China slipped again. Furthermore, he instigated the proposed merger of PSA with

Stellantis

On January 16, 2021, Tavares became the first

of the multinational automobile group

, resulting from the merger between the

PSA group The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...

and

. On January 19, 2021, during the group's first press conference, he announced that he wanted to achieve 5 billion euros in synergies, particularly in terms of investment, sharing of engines and platforms, and development. He also announced that he wanted to relaunch the most fragile brands, which could benefit from new investments. In their campaigns ahead of the

2022 French presidential election The 2022 French presidential election was held on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. Macron, f ...

, incumbent

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

and his challenger

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its pre ...

called Tavares' 2021 compensation package – around 19 million euros ($20.5 million), plus a stock package worth some additional 32 million euros and long-term compensation of about 25 million euros – "shocking".

Other activities

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2016) * Total, Member of the Board of Directors (between 2017 and 2020)

Personal life

Tavares is married and father of three children. He is also known to be close to the former

Prime Minister of Portugal The prime minister of Portugal ( pt, primeiro-ministro; ) is the head of government of Portugal. As head of government, the prime minister coordinates the actions of ministers, represents the Government of Portugal to the other bodies of state, ...

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he ...

Racing driver

Passionate about cars, he already volunteered at the age of 14 to be a track marshal on the

. He has been an amateur racing driver since the age of twenty-two. 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. In 2014, together with Jean-Louis Daughter, 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. 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. He is a member of the jury at the Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille 2017 and 2019, an automobile elegance competition. File:Carlos Tavares au Spa Classic 2019.jpg, Carlos Tavares at the Spa Classic in 2019 File:Carlos Tavares Chantilly Arts & Elegance 2017.jpg, Carlos Tavares at the Chantilly Arts & Elegance in 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tavares, Carlos 1958 births Living people Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat alumni École Centrale Paris alumni Portuguese businesspeople Renault people Stellantis People from Lisbon Portuguese chief executives