Tavares said that even though Stellantis was doing better than most of its peers -- with an overall adjusted operating margin of 11.8 percent in 2021 -- it would keep pushing to find greater efficiencies.
"I have learned from my 40 years of automotive life that as soon as you stop pushing, you go backward, because this is a competitive game," he said.
Another area where Stellantis is pushing to cut costs is within its supplier base.
Suppliers in North America have expressed concerns about what they say are unfavorable new terms, including a requirement that cost savings be passed on to Stellantis.
Tavares, while not commenting directly on the report, said that suppliers would have to bear some of the burden of EV costs.
Stellantis is doing its share to avoid raising prices on consumers -- and thus potentially depressing sales -- by keeping its break-even point very low, he said.
"We need our suppliers to contribute," he said. Tavares said 85 percent of the value of a car when it leaves the factory is in outside components, "so there is no surprise that when you have to absorb 50 percent of additional costs coming out of electrification, your suppliers need to be a significant contributor for this additional productivity."
Some of them are doing that, he said, noting that it will be a "Darwinian transition period" for suppliers as well as automakers.
"This is going to be mostly a cost-reduction race over the next five years to protect affordability in terms of protecting the size of the markets, so that we can keep the middle classes on board on new car sales," he said.