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Macron and Le Pen decry 'shocking' Stellantis CEO pay

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger in the French presidential vote, Marine Le Pen, on Friday both decried as “shocking” the multimillion euro payout to the CEO of carmaker Stellantis. Stellantis CEO Carlos TavaresÂ’ remuneration package of 19.15 million euros just a year after the company was formed became an issue as Macron and Le Pen campaigned ahead of the April 24 runoff vote. Polls show purchasing power and inflation are a top voter concern. Stellantis was formed last year through the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Centrist President Emmanuel Macron, perceived by many voters as being too pro-business, called the pay package “astronomical” and pushed for a Europe-wide effort to set ceilings on “abusive” executive pay. “ItÂ’s shocking, itÂ’s excessive,” he said Friday on broadcaster France-Info. “People canÂ’t have problems with purchasing power, difficulties, the anguish theyÂ’re living with, and see these sums. Otherwise, society will explode.” Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who enjoys support from many working-class voters, called for bringing in more workers as shareholders. “Of course itÂ’s shocking, and itÂ’s even more shocking when it is the CEOs who have pushed their society into difficulty,” she said Friday on BFM television. “One of the ways to diminish this pay, which is often out of proportion with economic life, is perhaps to allow workers in as shareholders.” Stellantis continued to back the package despite a 52.1% to 47.9% vote rejecting it at an annual shareholders' meeting chaired from the Netherlands, where the company is legally based, on Wednesday. The company, citing Dutch civil code, noted that the vote is advisory and not binding. The company later said in a statement that it took note of the vote, and will explain in an upcoming 2022 remuneration report “how this vote has been taken into account.” In the 2021 report, the company identified peer group companies that it used as a salary benchmark, including U.S. companies like Boeing, Exxon Mobile, General Electric as well as carmakers Ford and General Motors. Stellantis, whose brands include Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep, Opel and Maserati, reported net profits last year had tripled to 13.4 billion euros ($15.2 billion). The French government is the third-largest shareholder in Stellantis, with a 6.15% stake through the Bpifrance Participations S.A. French public investment bank.

Race Recap: 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix follows the template of this year and last [spoilers]

The sand, the wind, the penalties, the contact and the one crash - all of them collided to make the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix a surprise affair from day to day and lap to lap. Oh, and did we mention the tires? Pirelli made a last-minute swap after the amusement park ride that the Chinese Grand Prix turned into with the soft compound tire, and brought medium and hard compounds to the desert. That didn't stop things from falling apart for some teams - literally - and that didn't stop the one team that seems to love the hard compound Pirelli tire.

Luca doesn't believe in electric cars, but Ferrari will build more hybrids

Confirming what we'd long suspected, the hybrid powertrain in the Ferrari LaFerrari was not a one-time thing. "I don't believe in the electric cars, but I strongly believe in hybrids," Ferrari boss Luca Cordero di Montezemolo tells Bloomberg. It's unclear when we'll see another hybrid Ferrari, though, as the automaker's current lineup is quite fresh - the oldest model is the California, which was updated for the 2013 model year - but make no mistake, there are more electrified cars coming from Maranello. "The answer is yes," Montezemolo told Bloomberg when asked about hybrids, although he was quick to add "without exceeding." It's that last part that is key for enthusiasts of the gas engine.
Ferrari's move towards hybrid powertrains reflects a pair of trends in both the political and motorsports spheres. Politically, automakers, even exotics, are being pushed to produce cars with cleaner emissions, or in many cases, no emissions at all. Look no further than the Range Rover Hybrid, which was just announced. Formula One's push towards hybridization and smaller engines is also informing decisions at Ferrari, with the LaFerrari already using hybrid tech already inspired by the sport.
Still, it's reassuring to know that while Ferrari is pushing forward with future technologies, that the gas engine won't go the way of the manual transmission in Maranello - at least in the near term.