Stellantis shipments rebound as CEO Filosa's strategy starts to deliver

MILAN (Reuters) -Stellantis' global vehicle shipments rebounded in the third quarter led by new models and North American demand, the carmaker said on Friday, recovering from a slump over the previous six quarters.

The latest figures suggest that measures taken by CEO Antonio Filosa - who took charge of Stellantis' North American operations a year ago before stepping into the top job in June - are starting to pay off. They included reintroducing some models including Jeep Cherokee and 8-cylinder RAM trucks.

Shares in the company, whose brands also include Peugeot, Fiat and Opel, were up 1.6% by 0905 GMT, the best performing Italian blue chip.

The French-Italian-American automaker estimated its global shipments grew 13% year-on-year in the July-September period to a total of 1.3 million vehicles.

Stellantis shipments had last risen in the fourth quarter of 2023 and its share price is down 26% since the start of this year.

In July, the carmaker warned of a 1.5 billion-euro ($1.7 billion) hit from U.S. tariffs this year, but pledged new vehicle launches to reconnect with customers as Filosa aimed to get the automaker back on track after a dismal 2024.

In the third quarter, signs of business recovery were particularly evident in the key North American market, which had grappled with factors including excess inventories and model transitions that weighed on volumes and market shares in previous quarters.

North American shipments surged 35% to 403,000 vehicles in the third quarter, partly driven by the launch of the V8-powered Ram 1500 and a normalisation of inventory levels following last year's production cuts, the company said in a statement.

Shipments in North America - where Filosa is still regional chief - had declined for the previous six quarters.

Stellantis is due to release final data on its third-quarter shipments and revenues on October 30.

In Europe, shipments rose 8% year-on-year to 534,000 vehicles, the company said, supported by the ramp-up of four new compact models - the Citroen C3, Citroen C3 Aircross, Opel Frontera and Fiat Grande Panda - which were not in production during the same period last year.

However, gains were partially offset by weaker demand for light commercial vehicles and lower volumes in some key European countries, Stellantis said.

Elsewhere, shipments fell 3% in South America to 252,000 vehicles. Stellantis said this was due to a high figure in the same period of last year, when the company recovered delayed shipments in Brazil following flooding in Rio Grande do Sul.

($1 = 0.8636 euros)

(Reporting by Philippe Leroy Beaulieu in Gdansk and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan. Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak, Mark Potter and Susan Fenton)