The carmaker Stellantis has said it will take a €22bn (£19.1bn) charge and sell a stake in its battery joint venture after admitting that it “overestimated” the pace of the shift to electric vehicles.

Shares in the European-based carmaker, which owns marques including Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep and Citroën, plunged after it said that the move was part of a reset of its business as it also admitted “poor operational execution”.

Antonio Filosa, the chief executive of Stellantis, said: “The charges announced today largely reflect the cost of overestimating the pace of the energy transition that distanced us from many car buyers’ real-world needs, means and desires.

“They also reflect the impact of previous poor operational execution, the effects of which are being progressively addressed by our new team.”

Its shares closed down 25% in Milan on Friday – and have slumped by more than half over the past year – to their lowest since April 2020, wiping more than €5bn off its market value.

The company said that the charges included cash payments of €6.5bn, to be paid out over the next four years.

Almost €15bn of the charges relate to “realigning product plans with customer preferences and new emission regulations in the US, largely reflecting significantly reduced expectations for battery electric vehicles (BEVs)”.

Stellantis said it would not be paying a dividend to shareholders in 2026.

Stellantis has taken moves including cancelling its previously planned Ram 1500 BEV, an electric truck it had claimed was “set to push boundaries”.

The company said cancellation of projects, including the Ram 1500, reflected “the need to align with customer demand and the changes to US regulatory frameworks”.

While sales of electric vehicles in Europe have soared, demand in the US has collapsed after the Trump administration withdrew a $7,500 (£5,527) consumer tax credit, and is looking to remove regulations aimed at curbing car emissions.

Stellantis said it had become a leader in EVs over the past five years and would continue to develop them. However, it added: “That journey continues at a pace that needs to be governed by demand rather than command.”

Stellantis also plans to sell its 49% stake in its battery joint venture in Canada with NextStar Energy to South Korea’s LG Energy Solution.

“We have gone deep into every corner of our business and are making the necessary changes,” Filosa said. “In 2026, our unwavering focus is on closing past execution gaps to add further momentum to these early signs of renewed growth.”

Despite the scale of the announcement, analysts believe that Stellantis will still have to consider factory closures and a reduction in output.

“Given that this announcement does not include any factory closures we do not think the news yet resets fully the cost base at Stellantis, which is likely necessary on the reduced market shares,” said analysts at Citi in a note to investors. “We think any upside to Stellantis most likely features capacity reductions to fully reset the North America and European businesses.”

Last month, the rival Ford announced a $19.5bn charge, while General Motors recently reported a $6bn hit.

In 2022, Carlos Tavares, the former chief executive of Stellantis, set a goal for 100% of sales in Europe, and 50% in the US, to be of BEVs by the end of the decade.

On Friday, Stellantis said its push into the EV market needed to be “governed by demand rather than command”.

“The success of companies like [China’s] BYD suggests there are plenty of people willing to take the leap,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. “That begs the question as to whether Stellantis’s frustration over its EV sales is linked to market issues or that drivers simply don’t like its vehicles.”

The company is set to present an update of its long term strategy to investors and analysts at a capital markets day in May.

Last year, Stellantis made what it called the largest ever investment in its US operation, $13bn over four years, introducing 10 new products and creating 5,000 jobs.