Dive Brief:
- Carlos Tavares, CEO and executive director of Stellantis, earned 36.5 million euros ($39.5 million) in total compensation in 2023, a 55.6% year-over-year increase, according to the automaker’s 2023 annual report released on Friday.
- Stellantis paid Tavares nearly 23.5 million euros in cash and vested equity, including a 10 million euro bonus for meeting three electrification milestones, in 2023.
- Tavares' compensation package includes an additional 13 million euros in long-term performance incentives, which Stellantis will only pay in full if the company meets specific targets.
Dive Insight:
Executive compensation among the Detroit Three automakers drew the ire of the United Auto Workers union ahead of last year’s contentious labor negotiations, with UAW President Shawn Fain saying in June that it was “time to pay up.”
At the time, the UAW was upset that each of the Detroit Three CEOs had received more than $20 million in total compensation in 2022, earning far more than the typical employee.
“The Big Three executives have lavished themselves with fat salaries, while autoworkers continue to live paycheck to paycheck,” UAW Vice President Rich Boyer said during a social media event in June.
Even so, Tavares earned 518 times Stellantis’ average employee compensation in 2023, a steep increase from 2022, when he earned 365 times a typical worker's compensation. The automaker said it was primarily due to the 10 million euro bonus.
The bonuses and milestones are tied, in part, to the automaker’s plan to invest nearly $53 billion in electrification over the next decade. Stellantis aims for EVs to account for 100% of its passenger car sales in Europe and 50% of its passenger car and light-duty truck sales in the U.S. by 2030.
The three electrification milestones met by Stellantis include starting electric motor production at the automaker’s Trémery plant in France, beginning electrified dual-clutch transmission production for hybrids and plug-in hybrids, and achieving a sales mix that includes 15% plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles in Europe.
