Stellantis announces 22.2 billion charges for revision of electricity strategy

The European automotive group - which also announced the sale of its 49% stake in Nextstar Energy, an electric vehicle battery plant in Canada, to LG Energy - estimates consolidated deliveries in Q4 2025 of 1.5 million units, up 9% year-on-year.

Driving the growth was North America, where deliveries increased by 43%, while South America, the Middle East and Africa, China and India, and Asia-Pacific also grew. This was partially offset, the company explains, by a decline in Wider Europe, (26,000 less or -4% year-on-year) due to the combined effect of a shrinking light commercial vehicle market and competitive pressures.

"The reset we have announced - commented CEO Antonio Filosa - is part of the path we started in 2025 to return to putting customers as the reference point for all our decisions. The charges largely reflect the cost of overestimating the pace of the energy transition, as well as the impact of past critical issues'.

In recent months, the regulatory environment has also changed, both in Europe, with the opening up of the possibility of achieving emission reduction targets in the EU with more progressive elements, but especially in the United States, with the Trump administration's decision on 30 September to eliminate the $7,500 federal tax credit for purchasers, and to reduce the Cafe fuel efficiency standards, resetting to zero some of the penalties for exceeding these standards.

It is in this context that the recent decisions of two other big players (like Stellantis) in the US market, such as Gm and Ford, are to be seen.

The first,Gm. announced at the beginning of October another EUR 6 billion of extraordinary charges related to the revision of its strategy (bringing the total impact to 7.6, taking into account other previous corrections), while the second,Ford. had previously estimated the write-down at EUR 19.5 billion, to be spread over several quarters.

Returning to Stellantis, net revenues and net industrial free cash flow improved in the second half of the year compared to the first half, in line with the company's latest financial guidance.

The company also launched its 2026 guidance, with net revenue, Aoi margin and Ifcf expected to improve; in particular, net revenue is expected to rise mid-single digit, Aoi margin is expected to be low-single digit (including net tariffs of EUR 1.6 billion, up from EUR 1.2 billion in 2025) and Ifcf to improve year-on-year, to be positive in 2027.

The results, Stellantis explained in a note, were negatively impacted by specific items, including the change in the estimate for contract guarantees and other items, resulting in an adjusted operating income (Aoi) margin for the second half of 2025, which was lower than the reported single-digit range. Specifically, according to preliminary data, second-half net revenue is expected to be between EUR 78bn and EUR 80bn and Aoi between EUR -1.2bn and EUR -1.5bn.

Net loss is expected to be between EUR 19 and 21 billion and cash flow from operating activities between EUR -2.3 and -2.5 billion. Free cash flow from industrial activities is expected to be between -1.4 and -1.6 billion. In addition, the Stellantis Board of Directors authorised the issuance of hybrid perpetual subordinated non-convertible bonds up to a maximum amount of EUR 5 billion. "These measures will help preserve a robust capital and liquidity structure while the company works to return the business to positive industrial free cash flow generation," the company explains. Available industrial cash closes 2025 at around EUR 46 billion, corresponding to a ratio of 30 per cent of net revenue for the year, which is higher than the target range of 25-30 per cent defined by the company.