Stellantis refuted an Italian newspaper report claiming that Luca Maestri, outgoing finance chief of Apple, was being considered as the company’s next chief executive.
“It is not true,” a Stellantis spokesperson said in response to the report by Corriere della Sera, which suggested that Chairman John Elkann planned to appoint Maestri following the departure of CEO Carlos Tavares.
The speculation around Maestri, a seasoned finance executive, is not new. His name previously surfaced as a candidate when Elkann was seeking a new CEO for Ferrari, the luxury automaker partly owned by the Agnelli family’s holding company, EXOR (EXOR.AS). However, a source with direct knowledge of the situation dismissed the recent talk of Maestri’s potential role at Stellantis as “fake news.”
A second source familiar with the matter indicated that Stellantis might consider a leader from the technology sector, reflecting trends in the industry. “A CEO from the tech sector could be a possibility,” the source said, but added that Maestri’s profile is more financially oriented due to his tenure at Apple.
Ferrari, another Agnelli-linked company, opted for technology expertise in 2021 by appointing Benedetto Vigna, a seasoned executive from chipmaker STMicroelectronics, as its CEO. This trend underscores the growing interplay between automotive and tech industries.
Stellantis has yet to announce a successor for Tavares, whose departure has left one of the world’s largest automakers at a critical juncture amid rapid shifts toward electrification and digitalization in the auto sector.