14. Carlos Tavares

Carlos Tavares (born 14 August 1958) is a Portuguese businessman, and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Stellantis, the world’s sixth-largest automaker by sales, formed by the merger of Groupe PSA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. He was formerly the chief operating officer at Renault.

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Carlos Tavares was appointed Executive Director of Stellantis with effect from January 17, 2021, and Chief Executive Officer on January 17, 2021. Previously, he served as Chairman of the Managing Board of Groupe PSA from March 31, 2014, having joined Groupe PSA’s Managing Board on January 1, 2014. Born in Portugal in 1958, Carlos Tavares graduated from École Centrale de Paris.

He held various positions within the Renault Group between 1981 and 2004, before joining the Nissan Group. Carlos Tavares was appointed Executive Vice President, Chairman of the Management Committee Americas and President of Nissan North America in 2009, before being appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Renault, a position he held until 2013. Carlos Tavares also serves as a director of Airbus Holding S.A. and is a member of the board of directors of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

As head of Stellantis, he’ll answer to dynastic shareholders – the Agnellis, led by Chairman John Elkann, as well as the Peugeots — and politics will play an outsize role. The French state will retain a stake in the merged company, and Italy’s deputy economy minister has hinted its government may acquire a shareholding as well.

PSA’s outgoing Chairman Louis Gallois has said that since Tavares’s roots are in Portugal, where he owns a vineyard and small vintage-car business, he’ll be an effective neutral arbiter.

Tavares has three children. He has been an amateur race car driver since the age of twenty-two. He has competed in the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. He also collects classic cars and owns a 1979 Peugeot 504 V6 Coupé, a 1976 Alpine A110 and a Porsche 912 from 1966. He had a career as a rally driver until the early 1990s.