Manley Overboard: Mike Manley Moving On From Stellantis
Stellantis boss Mike Manley is moving on.
Manley was the chief of the Americas for the company, but now the 57-year-old is heading to AutoNation, where he will take over for the retiring Mike Jackson.
Mark Stewart, the chief operating officer for North America, and Antonio Filosa, the chief operating officer for Latin America, will now report directly to Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares.
“After 20 incredible, challenging and enjoyable years, and with Stellantis performing so strongly under Carlos’ leadership, the time feels right for me to open a new chapter,” Manley said in a statement. “Working with Carlos to create this extraordinary company, with the constant support of our shareholders, has been a huge privilege both professionally and personally. I’m so proud of our Stellantis teams for their extraordinary work and I wish Carlos and them every success as they continue their great adventure.”
Manley became executive vice president of planning and sales for Chrysler in 2008. He then became COO for the Asia region before becoming CEO of Jeep in 2009. He later also ran the Ram truck brand.
He became CEO of Chrysler in 2018 when the late Sergio Marchionne resigned due to health issues and later headed the Chrysler side of the business after Fiat Chrysler merged with PSA to become Stellantis. He was in charge of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram.
“Mike Manley brings considerable and comprehensive automotive experience to AutoNation, including strategy, business development, and a focus on operations,” AutoNation Chairman Rick Burdick said in a statement. “Mike’s exceptional performance over the years aligns with AutoNation’s commitment to excellence, a peerless customer experience and innovative industry-leading drive.”
[Image: Stellantis]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Really no big loss for Stellantis. Manley just continued Sergio's plan. He did nothing for Chrysler. He didn't want to do any updates for existing products. Stellantis is better off without him.
Hate to see him go. You look at the revolving door that is Ford of late, and wonder if they'll ever get their rollouts right. Two PROMISING debuts in the Explorer and Bronco and they are replete with issues. Shame, really. Then there's Mary and her band of idiots, again failing to act properly on the another recall (this time- the Bolt), and PRAYING that their frivolous lawsuits against other domestic competitors (not the imports, mind you), will garner them the money they aren't earning on their own vehicles. Manley is the picture of an under-the-radar performer. Being thrust into the CEO position and the limelight, he continued the goals of Marchionne (SANS all the double-speak and fanfare) and MADE THE MERGER HAPPEN. I have nothing but respect for this guy.