- Stellantis dealers have asked the firm’s CEO for help to boost flagging sales.
- Dealers complain of insufficient allocation of some models and want to discuss pricing strategy.
- Half-year sales were down 16 percent despite the market growing by 2.2 percent.
Stellantis dealers have called on their CEO to help them battle sluggish demand and falling share in a market that is growing overall.
Dealers wrote to Carlos Tavares in May outlining their grievances and the reasons they think Stellantis is falling behind other automakers, Kevin Farrish, chairman of the Stellantis National Dealer Council, told Auto News.
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While the US market overall grew 2.2 percent in the first half of 2024, Stellantis sales dropped 16 percent in the same period, and fell by 21 percent in the second quarter. The half-year drop reduced the automaker’s share of the car market by two points, the report says.
One of the dealers’ big complaints was their inability to order in-demand vehicles such as the base-grade Grand Cherokee and Wrangler, and the loaded Grand Cherokee Limited. But following a meeting between Farrish, other dealers, Tavares and Stellantis North America COO Carlos Zarlenga, access to those SUVs has improved, Farrish told Auto News reporters.
Other changes were implemented in an effort to improve sales, including price cuts up up to $4,000 on the Grand Cherokee and discounts of up to $2,000 on other vehicles as part of a summer campaign. Those reductions are designed to tackle the problem of Stellantis prices generally being higher than those of rival automakers.
One problem that doesn’t have a fast fix available is the gaps in the various Stellantis brands’ product lineups as a result of vehicles being discontinued and not replaced. Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep are all lighter on product this year that they were in previous seasons following the death of cars like the 300, Charger, Challenger, Cherokee and Renegade.
All three brands will add new models over the course of the next few years, including the electric and combustion versions of the new Charger, a Chrysler EV and the Jeep Recon and electric Wagoner S.
