(Bloomberg) -- Bernie Moreno, the Ohio auto dealer elected to join the US Senate in January, wants to carve out a major role for himself shaping automotive policy during a second Trump term.
Among the items on his agenda: agitating for Stellantis NV to spin off Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler, which he believes have been grossly mismanaged by European interests and belong back in American hands.
“They’ve been a terrible steward of the brands,” Moreno said by phone Wednesday while crisscrossing his home state in a Jeep Grand Wagoneer sport utility vehicle. “I’m hoping that John Elkann does the right thing and spins off Chrysler Corporation and puts its back in American ownership.”
Elkann, a scion of the Agnelli dynasty of Italian industrialists who founded Fiat in the 1890s, joined forces with France’s Peugeot family to form Stellantis in early 2021 by combining PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler. Almost four years after the megamerger, the company’s 48-year-old chairman is searching for a new chief executive officer — former CEO Carlos Tavares alienated US dealers, factory workers and executives before his ouster earlier this month.
“With nearly 100 years of history in the US, the iconic brands of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram are at the heart of Stellantis’ strategy,” the company said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg News. “Together with our partners and stakeholders, we will continue building Stellantis as the automotive company of the future.”
Moreno, who was born in Colombia and immigrated to Florida with his family as a child, became a millionaire by building a luxury-car dealership group based in the Buckeye state. He defeated Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown last month after appealing to working-class voters on issues including border security and inflation, hewing closely to President-elect Donald Trump and his running mate, former Ohio Senator JD Vance.
Trump and Moreno see eye to eye on repealing consumer tax credits toward electric vehicle purchases, rolling back fuel-economy standards and raising tariffs to galvanize US manufacturing. The Senator-elect also wants to apply his America-first brand of capitalism to the auto industry by pushing for the breakup of Stellantis, which cut thousands of jobs in the US — including at a Jeep plant in Ohio — as part of Tavares’ broader efforts to slash costs and pad profit margins.
“This guy fired all the Americans,” Moreno said of the Portuguese executive. “He’s been milking this company to death.”
Tavares declined to comment on Moreno’s remarks.
Moreno said Stellantis wants to shift all its models to European vehicle platforms and produce them in cheaper countries for export to the US.
“I know what they eventually plan to do, and it will never happen as long as I’m US Senator and Trump is in the White House,” Moreno said. A spokesman later clarified that he hasn’t discussed the idea of unwinding elements of the Stellantis merger directly with Trump.
“We are proud to employ many thousands of people and support our communities across Michigan, Indiana and Ohio,” Stellantis said in its statement. “2025 will be an exciting year, with many projects which will benefit from the group’s cutting-edge technology and scale.”
Exor NV, the Agnelli family’s holding company, is Stellantis’ largest shareholder with a 15% stake. A Peugeot family entity owns 7.4% of the automaker, and state-owned Bpifrance is its third-largest holder with a 6.4% stake.
Fiat Chrysler was created in 2009 when the late Sergio Marchionne, then the CEO of Fiat SpA, negotiated with the Obama administration to acquire a controlling stake in Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler, which went bankrupt during the global financial crisis and was bailed out by the US and Canada. Marchionne revived Chrysler by investing heavily in the Jeep, Ram and Dodge brands before complications from surgery forced his sudden resignation in July 2018. He died days after stepping down.
--With assistance from Albertina Torsoli, Daniele Lepido and Tommaso Ebhardt.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.