After enduring seven consecutive quarters of year over year revenue declines, Stellantis has finally turned the corner, posting a 13 percent increase in both revenue and vehicle shipments for the third quarter of 2025. But the automotive giant’s relief comes with asterisks, and investors aren’t entirely convinced the turnaround is sustainable.
The company reported net revenues of €37.2 billion, up from €33 billion in the same period last year, primarily driven by growth in North America, Enlarged Europe and Middle East & Africa. Consolidated shipments totaled 1.3 million units, marking a 152,000 unit increase compared to Q3 2024. However, context matters here. Much of that North American surge, 104,000 units of the total increase, reflects what the company calls “normalized inventory dynamics” following a painful dealer stock reduction initiative in 2024 that temporarily slashed production.
In other words, Stellantis is recovering from self-inflicted wounds as much as it’s experiencing genuine market growth. The company had stuffed dealer lots with inventory in 2023, forcing a dramatic correction in 2024 that left showrooms understocked and production lines idle. Now they’re catching up, which makes the 35 percent North American shipment increase look more impressive on paper than it might be in reality.
Antonio Filosa, Stellantis CEO, framed the results positively. “As we continue to implement important strategic changes in order to provide our customers with greater freedom of choice, we have seen positive sequential progress and solid year over year performance in Q3,” he said. That “freedom of choice” messaging is corporate speak for backing away from the company’s aggressive electrification push after discovering American consumers weren’t ready to abandon internal combustion engines at the pace Stellantis had anticipated.
The return of the 5.7 liter HEMI V8 powered Ram 1500 exemplifies this strategic pivot. Stellantis had planned to phase out the beloved engine as part of its electric vehicle transition, but customer backlash forced a reversal. It’s a pragmatic decision that’s resonating with truck buyers, but it also highlights how the company misread market sentiment in its rush toward electrification.
In Europe, the story is more nuanced. Net revenues rose 4 percent compared to the prior year period, with shipments up 8 percent driven by B segment nameplates including the Citroën C3, C3 Aircross, Opel and Vauxhall Frontera, and Fiat Grande Panda. Yet market share in the EU30 region fell to 15.4 percent, affected by market declines in France and Italy where Stellantis has greater exposure. The company is launching affordable models to compete in the value segment, but that strategy comes with margin pressure that will show up in future financial reports.
Outside North America and Enlarged Europe, aggregated sales grew 6 percent year over year, led by Middle East & Africa. The company’s expansion of FIAT production in Algeria is paying dividends, with local manufacturing allowing it to sidestep import restrictions and tariffs that hamper competitors. South America saw a moderate 5 percent revenue decrease, partly due to tough comparisons against Q3 2024 when Stellantis benefited from recovering Brazilian shipments that had been delayed by floods in Rio Grande do Sul earlier that year.
The real test of Stellantis’s recovery, however, isn’t in the revenue numbers but in what’s coming next. On October 14, the company announced a strategic $13 billion investment program over the next four years to accelerate growth and expand its manufacturing footprint in the United States. This marks the largest investment in the company’s 100 year U.S. history and will include the launch of five new vehicles and creation of over 5,000 jobs.
The investment plan includes reopening the Belvidere, Illinois plant for production of two new Jeep models, the Cherokee and Compass. An all new Ram midsize truck will be assembled in Toledo, Ohio. The Warren, Michigan plant will produce an all new large SUV with both range extended EV and internal combustion engine powertrains, while the next generation Dodge Durango will be built in Detroit. Kokomo, Indiana facilities will produce an all new GMET4 EVO engine.
This $13 billion commitment is designed to expand Stellantis’s annual finished vehicle production in the U.S. by 50 percent over current levels. It’s also likely a strategic move to curry favor with American politicians ahead of potential policy changes, particularly given ongoing debates about electric vehicle mandates, fuel economy standards, and domestic manufacturing requirements. The timing, coming just weeks before these Q3 results, suggests Stellantis is trying to reshape the narrative around its American operations.
By the end of Q3, six of the ten new vehicles planned for 2025 introduction were successfully launched. Additional launches in the fourth quarter will reintroduce several volume nameplates, vehicles that exemplify what CEO Filosa describes as decisive strategic changes to provide customers with greater freedom to choose the cars and configurations they want. Translation: more traditional gas powered options alongside electric vehicles, rather than forcing customers toward EVs they’re not ready to buy.
Stellantis saw a 6 percent increase in U.S. sales during Q3, evidenced across the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler and Dodge brands, taking the company to a monthly market share of 8.7 percent in September, the highest in 15 months. That’s encouraging, but it’s also still well below the roughly 12 to 13 percent market share the company’s predecessor brands commanded in earlier years. There’s a long road ahead to reclaim lost ground.
The company reiterated its second half 2025 financial guidance, which anticipates continued improvement in net revenues, adjusted operating income margin, and industrial free cash flows compared to H1 2025. However, there’s a significant caveat buried in the forward looking statements. Stellantis warned it anticipates incurring charges in the second half of 2025 related to strategic and product plan changes, responding to regulatory, geopolitical, macroeconomic and other external and internal developments. These charges, once finalized, will largely be excluded from adjusted operating income, the key profitability metric investors watch.
Even more concerning, the company initiated a review of its warranty estimation process, which it expects will result in changes to those estimates and one off charges in H2 2025. For a major automaker to suddenly reassess warranty reserves suggests either previous estimates were too optimistic or the company is discovering quality issues with vehicles already in customers’ hands. Either scenario points to problems that could erode profitability and consumer confidence.
Maserati continues to struggle within the Stellantis portfolio. Shipments fell 14 percent in Q3, with revenues down 4 percent primarily due to lower shipment volumes and unfavorable foreign exchange translation impacts. The luxury brand is operating with what the company describes as a “significantly reduced portfolio,” corporate euphemism for a lineup that’s not resonating with high end buyers who have plenty of alternatives from German, British, and other Italian competitors.
China and India remain weak spots. Consolidated shipments were essentially flat year over year, with revenues up just 0.2 percent. Stellantis lacks the scale and brand recognition in these critical markets that competitors like Volkswagen, Toyota, and General Motors have spent decades building. The company’s China joint venture strategy hasn’t delivered the results it hoped for, and breaking through in India’s price sensitive market remains elusive.
Year to date through September, the picture is less rosy. Combined shipments of 4,024 thousand units are down 2 percent compared to the same period in 2024. Net revenues of €111.5 billion are down 6 percent from €118 billion a year earlier. So while Q3 shows improvement, Stellantis is still digging out of a hole created by strategic missteps, inventory management problems, and a broader slowdown in automotive demand across key markets.
The company’s October 8 announcement of new appointments to its Leadership Team, promoting talent from both inside and outside the organization to sharpen regional focus, suggests acknowledgment that previous management structures weren’t delivering results. Leadership reshuffles in the middle of a turnaround effort can signal either decisive action or organizational chaos, depending on execution.
For Stellantis, the Q3 results represent progress but not yet proof that the company has solved its fundamental challenges. It’s managing inventory better than a year ago. It’s launching products customers actually want rather than vehicles the company thinks customers should want. It’s investing heavily in American manufacturing at a politically opportune moment. And it’s backing away from electrification timelines that were disconnected from market reality.
Whether these tactical corrections add up to sustainable competitive advantage remains to be seen. The automotive industry is in the midst of a generational transition toward electrification, even if the timeline is proving longer and messier than optimists predicted. Stellantis risks falling behind competitors if its pivot back to internal combustion proves too aggressive, or it could position itself smartly for a more gradual transition that matches actual consumer behavior rather than regulatory wishful thinking.
What’s clear is that Stellantis can’t afford many more quarters like the seven that preceded this one. The company’s diverse brand portfolio from Jeep and Ram to Peugeot and Fiat gives it flexibility, but it also creates complexity and overhead that lean competitors don’t carry. The $13 billion U.S. investment and new product launches will determine whether this Q3 uptick was just a temporary bounce off the bottom or the beginning of sustained recovery.
