Firm has set up taskforces to monitor its Ukrainian employees and react quickly to new sanctions
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said any decision on how the firm will alter its operations in China “depends very much on what the politicians are going to decide.”
He told reporters: “We are expected to be a compliant corporation. We comply with the rules, laws and regulations in peacetime, and we comply with sanctions in wartime.”
Last Thursday, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Stellantis set up a dedicated taskforce to monitor the wellbeing of its 71 Ukrainian employees (who were safe as of last night) and now has another taskforce specifically to “translate these sanctions, that are decided by the hour, into business decisions.”
As for whether the firm’s production output will be impacted by the severe economic sanctions imposed upon Russia, Tavares said: “So far, those sanctions are very targeted, but of course there will be a point in time when the plants are unable to run. We have one in partnership with Mitsubishi in Kaluga, and as long as they have parts they can operate, if there are no parts they cannot operate.”
The Kaluga plant manufactures light commercial vehicles from Peugeot, Opel and Citroën, and as recently as January Stellantis was poised to begin exporting these Russian-built models to Western Europe. It is unclear if it plans to pursue this strategy.
Tavares added: “It’s important we stay focused on our people. We represent, in our company, 170 different citizenships – we are the most diverse car company in the world.”
He said Stellantis’s 1.6% market share in Eurasia makes the impact of any restrictions “marginal”, from a “purely economic” point of view.
Keyword: Stellantis vows to comply with sanctions on Russia