Stellantis pushed 1.36 million vehicles out the door in the first quarter of 2026, a 12 percent jump over the same period last year. Every region grew. The headline number looks like a company in recovery, but the details suggest a company still fighting on multiple fronts.
CEO Antonio Filosa, who inherited a mess that produced a 22.3 billion euro net loss in 2025, needed this win. He got one — at least on paper. North America led the charge with a 17 percent increase, shipping 379,000 units. Europe followed at 12 percent, pushing 637,000. Those are real numbers from a company that was hemorrhaging volume twelve months ago.
But look closer at North America and the picture gets complicated. Three nameplates — the Ram 1500 HEMI V8, the refreshed Jeep Grand Wagoneer, and the all-new Jeep Cherokee — accounted for more than 100 percent of the region’s growth. That means everything else in the portfolio was flat or declining.
The Jeep Compass took a hit because Cherokee production at the Toluca plant cannibalized its output. Stellantis isn’t growing broadly in its most profitable market. It’s growing on the backs of a V8 truck and two Jeeps.
In Europe, the story splits again. Commercial van volumes held steady at 135,000 units — not growing, just stable. Passenger car gains came almost entirely from the cheap seats: the Smart Car platform vehicles like the Citroën C3, Opel Frontera, and Fiat Grande Panda surged 85 percent, adding 48,000 units.
Leapmotor, the Chinese brand Stellantis distributes through a joint venture, shipped roughly 27,000 units, up from about 5,000 a year earlier. That number is worth watching. Stellantis is now using a Chinese brand to fill its European volume gap in budget EVs — the T03 apparently selling well in Italy, of all places. It’s a tacit admission that none of Stellantis’s own 14 brands have cracked the affordable EV code in Europe yet.
South America, long a Stellantis stronghold, grew just 4 percent. Brazil carried the region with an 11 percent jump, but Argentina collapsed 19 percent on industry weakness and the relentless push of Chinese competitors. Stellantis says it maintained leadership in both markets, which is true but increasingly hollow when your Argentine shipments drop by 8,000 units in a single quarter.
The Middle East and Africa region grew 11 percent, driven almost entirely by Turkey and the introduction of those same Smart Car models. But Gulf Cooperation Council shipments — the wealthy markets where margins tend to be fat — dropped by more than half to roughly 3,000 units. That’s a rounding error for a company this size, but losing the Gulf is losing gravy.
Filosa is set to unveil a new industrial plan on May 21. Reuters noted he’s focused on regaining market share as part of a broader turnaround. The first quarter shipment numbers give him something to point to when he takes the stage, but they also give skeptics plenty of ammunition.
The rebound Stellantis started in the second half of 2025 is real, but it’s narrow. It leans heavily on a handful of new models, a Chinese partner’s budget EV, and affordable small cars in emerging markets. The premium brands — Maserati got quietly folded into regional reporting this quarter — remain invisible in these numbers.
Dodge, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, DS, and Lancia don’t rate a single mention in the growth narrative. Shipping 12 percent more vehicles is better than shipping 12 percent fewer. Filosa knows that better than anyone. But a turnaround built on Ram trucks and Fiat Pandas is a turnaround still searching for its middle.
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