MILAN (Reuters) - Carlos Tavares abruptly resigned on Sunday as CEO of Stellantis, two months after a profit warning, and the carmaker said it would seek to appoint a permanent successor in the first half of next year.

The Stellantis board is considering the head of North American operations Antonio Filosa and procurement Chief Maxime Picat as internal candidates for the CEO position, a source close to the matter said on Monday. The board is also considering external candidates, the source said.

In the meantime the maker of brands including Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Peugeot, will be run by a newly-established Interim Executive Committee, headed by the group's Chairman John Elkann.

International press and sources have flagged the following as among possible candidates to succeed Tavares:

MAXIME PICAT

Picat, currently Stellantis' chief purchasing and supplier quality officer, previously served as COO for the 'Enlarged Europe' region when the group was created in January 2021. The 50-year-old French civil engineer joined Peugeot maker PSA in 1998, where he held different positions, including managing director of the DongFeng Peugeot Citroen Automobiles (DPCA) joint venture in China. He was one of the young managers developed by Carlos Tavares at PSA.

ANTONIO FILOSA

Filosa was made COO of Stellantis' key North American market in October, as part of a top management reshuffle that followed the group's profit warning. Filosa, an Italian national, joined Fiat Group in 1999 and worked in several roles, especially in Latin America, becoming Fiat Chrysler chief in the region from 2018. He then served as Stellantis COO for South America before being appointed global head of the Jeep brand in 2023, a role he retains.

JEAN-PHILIPPE IMPARATO

The 58-year-old Frenchman is a former brands chief at Peugeot and at Alfa Romeo who was promoted in October to be COO of the Enlarged Europe region at Stellantis. Imparato is regarded as close to Tavares and during the recent Paris Auto Show dismissed speculation about him getting the CEO role: "I have neither the expertise, nor the ambition, to do that job," he said. A fluent Italian speaker, he also heads Stellantis' lucrative commercial vehicle unit Pro One.

LUCA DE MEO

Renault's CEO has previously held top roles at Fiat Chrysler (FCA) under Sergio Marchionne and at Volkswagen, where he also headed the Seat brand. An Italian national, De Meo, 57, was appointed Renault CEO in 2020 and completed the French automaker's turnaround. A move to Stellantis might also be part of an eventual merger with Renault, which has been at the centre of market speculation in recent months. Renault just renewed De Meo's CEO mandate for another four years.