Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Jeep, Fiat and Peugeot among other brands, announced on Sunday that embattled CEO Carlos Tavares has resigned due to differences with the board and in the face of disappointing sales and calls for his ouster.

The departure comes following a steep drop in Stellantis’ sales, a glut of unsold vehicles on dealers’ lots, layoffs at several of its plants and calls for his departure from the United Auto Workers union, which represents its US workers, and also scathing criticism of his tenure from a council of its US dealers.

Tavares and the Stellantis board of directors had “different views,” which led to his resignation, Stellantis’ Senior Independent Director Henri de Castries, said in the release.

Tavares, 66, a Portuguese businessman who was central to the deal that merged French automaker PSA Group, maker of Peugeot, and the European-American automaker Fiat-Chrysler, into the newly named Stellantis, which is the fourth-largest automaker world behind Toyota, Volkswagen Group and Hyundai Motor Group. He had been chairman of PSA Group ahead of that deal, which closed in January 2021. Earlier this year, it was announced that Tavares would retire at the end of his contract in early 2026.

“The process to appoint the new permanent Chief Executive Officer is well under way, managed by a Special Committee of the Board, and will be concluded within the first half of 2025. Until then, a new Interim Executive Committee, chaired by John Elkann, will be established,” the company said in a news release.

The company said in an email to CNN that it has no further comments.

The decision for Tavares to step down came amid high prices for its cars and trucks in North America that drove down sales and disappointed its traditional customer base.

Global sales volume for the first half of this year fell 10%, and in the third quarter plunged 20%. US sales are down 17% in the first nine months of the year. Experts told CNN that the average price of the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles had gotten too high for the core customers of those brands.

By the fourth quarter of 2023, the average Stellantis vehicle sold for $58,000 in the United States, according to data from automotive site Edmunds. While Stellantis’ US average price has declined since then, it was still the second-highest average price in the industry, at just under $55,000 in the third quarter.

The company laid off about 1,200 workers at its truck plant in Warren, Michigan, coinciding with the discontinuation of the entry-level Ram 1500 Classic pickup. The elimination of a shift at that plant took effect in October. In November, Stellantis announced plans to cut one of two shifts in January at its Toledo Assembly Complex South plant, which builds the Jeep Gladiator pickup, indefinitely laying off about 1,100 workers.