Stellantis names Carlos Zarlenga, head of Mexican operations, to lead North America
Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press
Updated 4 min read
Carlos Zarlenga has been picked to replace Mark Stewart as chief operating officer for Stellantis North America.
Stellantis will have a new leader for its key North American region beginning Feb. 1, someone who has been credited with leading a turnaround when he oversaw a region for rival General Motors several years ago.
Carlos Zarlenga, president of Stellantis Mexico, who is also a former executive at General Motors and GE, has been picked to replace Mark Stewart as chief operating officer. Stewart has been COO of North America since 2018, which was before the merger that created Stellantis in 2021.
Stellantis owns Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Maserati as well as numerous brands, including Peugeot, Opel and Citroen, sold in other parts of the world. North America represents a significant piece of Stellantis' global profits.
It was not immediately clear what Stewart's next role will be. The company did not announce his future plans, but CEO Carlos Tavares wished him well in a news release.
“I would like to thank Mark Stewart for his contribution to this role after a three-year cycle, corresponding to the date of creation of Stellantis and I wish him the best in his new position,” Tavares said.
The company highlighted what Zarlenga, a graduate of Universidad de Belgrano − Buenos Aires, Argentina, will bring to his new position, describing him as a seasoned leader with more than a decade of automotive experience around the globe. The release said that since Zarlenga joined Stellantis in 2022, he had delivered yearly improvements in sales and market share and the best profit level the company has seen in Mexico.
“In the very demanding North American market with many obstacles to overcome in order to foster the performance of the Company, Carlos Zarlenga is the best leader among our talent pool to replace Mark Stewart and to drive the change in our business model towards electrification in the region. Carlos Zarlenga has demonstrated his ability to bring together and unite diverse teams and to deliver the expected results,” Tavares said.
Sam Fiorani, vice president of global forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions, said that Zarlenga helped orchestrate a turnaround at GM's troubled South American group. Zarlenga's LinkedIn profile said his last role there, as president and CEO of GM South America, wrapped up in August 2021.
"It’s easy to come out of a good situation looking good, but it reflects well on Zarlenga’s talents to emerge from GM South America in a positive light. Stellantis’ North American operations is currently in transition and facing a number of issues, which will be a true test for Zarlenga’s management skills. If he wanted an easy job Zarlenga should have looked elsewhere, however this has the potential to be the most significant highlight on his resume," Fiorani said.
Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Cox Automotive, pointed to Stellantis' sales woes as among the challenges facing the company. She said the departure of Stewart sends a signal that more cost-cutting is coming.
"While Stellantis may want to blame a lot of this on the rich UAW contract, their sales have been off the last few years," she said, noting that the company was the only major automaker to report lower U.S. sales in 2023 vs. 2022, and she described 2022 as a bad year in its own right.
The company's sales weren't hampered by a lack of inventory, Krebs said, noting that some Stellantis models are priced higher than competitors.
Cost-cutting appears to have been underway at the company in recent months. It offered buyouts to white-collar workers and cut an unspecified number of contract workers. It also opted out of various auto shows, including CES and Chicago.
This week, the company also said it notified 539 supplemental employees, previously known as temporary workers, that they would no longer be needed across many of the company's manufacturing facilities.
In a statement, the company said the action "will help improve the efficiency, productivity and market competitiveness of our facilities as we implement our Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan."
UAW President Shawn Fain, in a critical response, noted that the union got the company to convert nearly 3,000 temps to full-time as part of contract negotiations.
"Stellantis can afford to do the right thing here and provide a pathway to full time good auto jobs but is again choosing to line executive and shareholder pockets. These workers have generated Stellantis' record profits, and there is absolutely no need to lay off a single one of them," Fain said.
