Former GM South America President and CEO Carlos Zarlenga has been appointed as the new Chief Operating Officer of Stellantis North America.
Effective February 1st, 2024, Zarlenga is set to replace Mark Stewart as COO of Stellantis North America in an effort to further solidify Stellantis’ performance in the North American market.
“In the very demanding North American market with many obstacles to overcome in order to foster the performance of the company, Carlos Zarlenga is the best leader among our talent pool to replace Mark Stewart and to drive the change in our business model towards electrification in the region,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was quoted as stating. “Carlos Zarlenga has demonstrated his ability to bring together and unite diverse teams and to deliver the expected results. I would like to thank Mark Stewart for his contribution to this role after a three-year cycle, corresponding to the date of creation of Stellantis and I wish him the best in his new position.”
It’s worth noting that Zarlenga joined Stellantis back in 2022 as the President of Stellantis Mexico, where he delivered a year-on-year improvement in sales performance, market share and AOI.
As previously mentioned, Zarlenga worked for General Motors as GM South America President and CEO, a position he assumed in April 2019. After his nine-year career within GM – where he began in 2012 as Financial Director of GM South Korea – Zarlenga resigned from the Detroit-based automaker in August 2021.
During his tenure, Zarlenga successfully implemented the 2014-2019 investment plan which renewed GM’s product portfolio and allowed Chevy to become the best-selling brand in Brazil since 2015. In addition, he also helped The General secure a series of tax incentives, which eventually lead to a $2.65 billion investment in two Brazilian plants – the GM São Caetano do Sul plant, and the GM São José dos Campos plant.
Following his resignation, GM South American CFO Roberto Martin temporarily took over before GM named Santiago Chamorro as Zarlenga’s successor.
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