Tavares: CEO shake-ups at Citroen, DS bring 'fresh perspectives'

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says recent changes at the top of the Citroen and DS Automobiles brands will bring “fresh perspectives” to fixing any problems.

The top jobs at the two French brands have been turned over to executives with broader responsibilities within Stellantis. At Citroen, Stellantis sales chief Thierry Koskas succeeded Vincent Cobee in February; and at DS, Olivier Francois, Fiat and Abarth CEO and Stellantis chief marketing officer, took over from Beatrice Foucher in June.

"It's normal that we bring fresh air, fresh perspectives to look at the problems and fix what needs to be fixed and embrace the future," Tavares said Wednesday on a call with reporters on Stellantis' first-half earnings. 

Koskas and Francois will retain their wider jobs within the group even as they steer their brands. Koskas, who was sales chief at Renault Group before joining Stellantis, has set a target of 5 percent European market share at Citroen, from 3.4 percent now.

Citroen has lost sales and market share in recent years, which Koskas has partly attributed to logistics issues. First half European sales were down by 1 percent to 189,577, in a market that grew by 18 percent overall, according to figures from Dataforce.

Francois has not announced a new strategy at DS, which itself was spun off from Citroen in 2014 and received its first standalone design, the DS 7 compact SUV, in 2017.

DS’s original ambition to sell hundreds of thousands of cars a year hinged on the Chinese market, but a joint venture with Chongqing Changan Automotive that included a new factory with a 200,000 vehicle annual capacity failed to pan out. In recent years sales have hovered around the 50,000 mark. 

Through the first half of this year, DS sales in Europe were up 11 percent to 26,982, compared with 24,163 in 2022, according to figures from Dataforce. 

Tavares and DS executives say they are committed to building DS over the long term, arguing that a premium brand needs a solid foundation in customer service and high perceptions of quality. DS is part of the premium brand cluster at Stellantis, along with Alfa Romeo and the soon-to-be-relaunched Lancia.

Francois, a veteran executive at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ahead of the merger with PSA Group in 2021 that created Stellantis, is well qualified to lead DS, Tavares told reporters Wednesday.

DS “has now demonstrated a huge potential,” he said. “A premium brand needs a lot of focus on brand equity activities, which is very much aligned with the skills of Olivier Francois, being the chief marketing officer of the company.”