What is the 2023 mistake that he is referring to?

The usual thing when some finance guy is in charge. Cut costs, raise prices, increase short term profits, defer the collapse until later. The collapse came within a year. But for one year, Tavares was the highest paid CEO in automotive.

Wikipedia: "Under the leadership of Tavares, Stellantis faced mounting criticism over its cost-cutting strategy, declining sales, and strained relationships with key stakeholders. Tavares implemented aggressive restructuring measures, including workforce reductions and tight control over product development, which some analysts blamed for delays in new model launches and weakening brand performance, particularly in North America.[45] U.S. dealers expressed concern about rising inventories and brand mismanagement, while the United Auto Workers criticized the company over job cuts and halted investment plans. Stellantis reported a 70% drop in net profit in 2024, with global shipments and U.S. market share declining significantly.[48] Amid internal friction with the board and worsening financial performance, Tavares resigned in December 2024, two years before his contract was set to expire."

It really is shocking how short sighted modern corporate infrastructure is, keep your employees and customers happy for the next 100 years and make a decent profit, naaaaa, makes a shitload and go out of business in 1-5 years now we're talking

“Show me the incentive and I'll show you the outcome.” — Charlie Munger

Raising vehicle prices beyond what customers would pay it seems: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/01/business/stellantis-ceo-carlo... They alude to it in the letter with the talk of market share.

The letter is the problem. The US companies are sick and completely refused to take the necessary steps to reduce their costs out of sheer hubris.

That’s Stellantis issue. American car manufacturers are irredeemable. It was a far better companies before the merger. Tavares was right. He was cutting costs which shouldn’t exist - Chrysler is an extremely ineffective company compared to PSA - and is investment strategy in electric was great. I was so happy when Tavares started talking about losing the dead weight and selling Chrysler. It’s a shame the board didn’t go with him and that he was sabotaged by the frankly incompetent management in the North American branch. The company now has an utterly stupid strategy.

Anyway, the issue in China is the GAC had control of the JV, a terrible idea of Fiat Chrysler which the company will now have to deal with. I’m still sour PSA had to merge these idiots.