Bill Pugliano/Getty Images Between tariffs, changing regulations, massive EV writedowns, slower sales, the death of the federal EV tax credit, supplier fires and record-breaking recalls, it's hard to argue that 2025 wasn't a dogass year for the U.S. automotive industry. Still, the Big Three CEOs all made out like bandits, not losing a cent from their compensation package, despite their workers seeing less in the way of profit-sharing checks. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa was paid for just six months of CEO work in 2025, since he took over the position in June. I mean, he was paid out about $6.3 million, according to the Detroit Free Press. Don't get me wrong, that's a hell of a lot of money, but when you look at his colleagues at General Motors and Ford, well, he might have to get on welfare. Ford CEO Jim Farley did such a good job in 2025, he was rewarded with 27.5 million American dollars. If you drive a Ford, I'm sure you agree that his pay was warranted. Yet, even he cannot keep up with industry leader Mary Barra. The GM CEO pulled in a whopping $29.9 million last year, and that's the type of money that only goes to people responsible for things like the Chevy Trailblazer. Filosa and Farley's follies Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images In 2025, Stellantis was slapped with a massive $26.3 billion net loss. Of course, that was mostly due to the $26.5 billion write-down it took because it all but gave up on electrification. The miserable year meant that United Auto Workers union-represented employees didn't receive any profit-sharing checks from the automaker. Filosa's mantra thus far has been to pretty much do the opposite of everything his predecessor, Carlos Tavares, did. That's why EVs have fallen by the wayside, and big, gas-powered engines are back in vogue. For those wondering, Tavares made about $14 million in 2025 after leaving the company in December of 2025, according to Freep. Filosa's pay was made up of about a $1.8 million base pay with the potential to hit up to 400% in short-term incentives, according to The Detroit News. If all goes well, he could be making up to $23 million a year by 2028. Not bad, Antonio, not bad. Ford, while not losing as much money as Stellantis in 2025, had a rough year nevertheless. It reported an $8.2 billion net loss following a $19.5 billion EV business writedown and a fire at an aluminum supplier in New York. It also set a record number of recalls through the year — 153 in total, covering nearly 13 million vehicles. Still, Farley got an 11% raise in 2025 — now up to $27,519,558. We've reported that this number works out to be about 295 times the median annual pay ($93,397) for all other employees. Ouch. His base pay remained the same at $1.7 million, but other factors like stock awards, non-equity incentives and earnings target rewards mean he cracked $27 million in '25. In 2024, he earned just under $25 million. Top dog Stephen Olker/Getty Images Last year, though, the CEO top dog remained GM's chief executive, Mary Barra, thanks to a $29,895,868 payday, according to the Detroit Free Press. That works out to be a tick under $400,000 more than she earned in 2024. Can you imagine earning an entire presidential salary more than you did the previous year, and it seems like a rounding error? This comes despite the fact that GM reported a net income of $2.7 billion — less than half of what it hit in 2024. Of course, much of that downturn came from its own $7.6 billion EV writedown. It also, as we reported, had to contend with nearly $3 billion in tariff charges thanks to the Trump administration. Regardless, Barra and her c-suite crew are keeping their multi-million dollar annual performance bonuses, and, at the same time, profit-sharing checks were slashed by thousands for UAW-represented employees. This is all because members of GM's board of directors decided to exclude losses tied to tariffs when evaluating the company's profitability as part of executive bonuses. I wonder how they came up with such a sweet idea? UAW workers were never going to be that lucky, but really, none of us ever were. I'm sorry to ruin your Monday like this, but that's just how it goes sometimes.
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