Stellantis posts a loss of 22.3 billion in 2025, the second heaviest for a French group

Stellantis announced this Thursday a net loss of 20.1 billion euros for the second half of 2025. The Franco-Italian-American automobile group had announced earlier this month charges of 22.2 billion euros over the period, as it reduced its ambitions in terms of electric vehicles. Stellantis’ adjusted operating profit (ROA) stood at -€1.38 billion in the second half of last year. In 2024, the company had generated a net profit of 5.5 billion euros.

However, the turnover of the manufacturer of Jeep and Peugeot increased between July and December by 10%, for 2.8 million vehicles.

The failure of electric vehicles

This considerable loss results from “the cost of overestimating the pace of the energy transition”, explained Director General Antonio Filosa in a press release. Automakers around the world are feeling the consequences of a slower and more complex transition from gasoline-powered cars to electrified vehicles than expected, as the United States and Europe scale back their targets for electric vehicles.

Ford and General Motors also took hefty charges to account for lower-than-expected sales of electric cars in their balance sheets. The electric market in the United States is being penalized by the decisions of the Trump administration, which reduced polluting emissions requirements and ended federal purchasing assistance.

The group is relaunching thermal models

Since the announcement on February 6 of multi-billion asset write-downs linked to electric vehicles, Stellantis shares listed in Milan have lost around 20% of their value. Since the start of the year, the stock has fallen by more than 30%, reaching a historic low since the creation of the car manufacturer in January 2021 through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and the Peugeot manufacturer PSA, at 5.73 euros per share on February 6.

Those writedowns – also due to vehicle quality issues that Filosa attributed to cost cuts under former boss Carlos Tavares – include around 6.5 billion euros in cash payments, which are expected to be spread over four years starting in 2026.

The company reiterated its forecasts for 2026 on Thursday, expecting net revenue growth of around 5% and an adjusted operating margin of around 7%. It anticipates a return to positive free cash flow in the industrial sector only in 2027.

Sales should be driven by the rise of new models, notably thermal pick-ups in the United States, and the relaunch of certain gasoline engines, including diesel, in Europe and across the Atlantic.

Furthermore, the group, which traditionally considers the North American market, and the United States in particular, as its main profit driver, said it expects costs of 1.6 billion euros this year due to American customs duties, compared to 1.2 billion euros in 2025.

Stellantis’ accounting loss is the second largest ever announced by a French group, behind Vivendi’s record (-23.3 billion euros in 2002) but ahead of France Télécom (-20.7 billion in 2002) and EDF (-17.9 billion in 2022). It is also almost triple the previous record for a French automobile group, that of Renault in 2020 (-8 billion).