The Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram retailers watched pricey and older cars pile up on their lots this year, and felt Carlos Tavares wasn't listening.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares abruptly announced his resignation on Sunday after leading the car giant for four years. Its board is already looking for his permanent replacement.

The carmaker said it hopes to conclude a hunt for Tavares’ replacement by the first half of 2025. In the meantime, John Elkann, Stellantis chairman and CEO of its largest shareholder Exor, will lead a new interim executive committee.

On Sunday, Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) announced that it had parted ways with CEO Carlos Tavares, who had led the company since it was formed in 2021 through the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and French automaker PSA Peugeot.

Carlos Tavares has resigned as Stellantis CEO after nearly four years, amid plunging electric vehicle sales and rising competition from Chinese car makers. His departure highlights the mounting challenges for legacy carmakers in the EV transition.

The company's board moved quickly after Tavares' departure and was unveiling the committee to key stakeholders by Monday morning.

Stellantis released a short statement saying the company’s board of directors accepted the resignation and they’ve already started the search for a new CEO. A decision is expected to be made during the first half of 2025 but, in the meantime, an interim executive committee will be established and lead by Chairman John Elkann.

Stellantis stock lost a further 6% Monday. Despite the challenges, Stellantis’s board had given Tavares its unanimous backing to turn the automaker around as recently as October. Since then, his renewed pursuit of cost savings and other efficiencies inflamed already fractious relations with dealers,