Jeep Boss: 'Energy Is High' Following Tavares Resignation

Bob Broderdorf credits the leadership of John Elkann and Antonio Filosa for giving him the freedom to make changes.

Photo by: Jeep

By: Christopher Smith

Jan 15, 2025 at 12:00pm ET

Comment

In September 2024, Bob Broderdorf was appointed head of Jeep in North America. He stepped in amid plummeting sales and angry dealers disillusioned with the company's direction under Stellantis. The Stellantis board was already looking for a new company CEO at that point, but the sudden resignation of Carlos Tavares in early December came as a surprise.

We met up with Broderdorf at the 2025 Detroit Auto Show and asked him how things at Jeep have changed since then. He didn't have anything to say regarding Tavares directly, but there was no hiding the positive vibes emanating from the halls of Jeep in the weeks since the embattled CEO's departure.

"The energy is high right now," explained Broderdorf. "The leadership that [John Elkann and Antonio Filosa] have shown all of us, and the trust and opportunity to make changes is incredible. The words they used were ‘we trust you, we understand you know how to do this, you understand our audience, we’re going to give you the freedom to do that.' And they’ve quickly allowed us to do that."

John Elkann is the Stellantis chairman and head of an executive committee calling the shots at the automotive conglomerate. Antonio Filosa is the CEO of Jeep and the chief operating officer for Stellantis.

"I would give them so much credibility for their leadership and trust in people like me who have been here for 26 years," said Broderdorf. "Yeah, we’re fired up."

What do you think?

View

Comments

Among those quick changes are big price cuts for many vehicles. The 2025 Wagoneer now starts just under $62,000 with destination included, a $3,000 drop from last year. The flagship Grand Wagoneer is down $7,000, and most Jeep Grand Cherokee trims are down at least $1,000. Broderdorf says these price cuts come without taking away any features that were previously included. Jeep also brought back the automatic transmission option for the V-6-powered Wrangler due to popular demand. And according to Broderdorf, this is just the start of more changes to come.

"It's going to be a pretty epic transformation," he told us. "We are going to invest over three billion dollars in new products. This is a fun brand. We going to go back to having fun, being adventurous. We’re going to make cool stuff that people will be proud of."