It’s no secret that Ford rival Stellantis is struggling at the moment, largely in the U.S., where it recently decided to kill off its popular array of ICE-powered muscle cars, plans to build a mid-size pickup, and ditch the V8 engine entirely – even in the refreshed Ram 1500. Now, Stellantis is working to right the financial ship in the U.S. amid its bleeding profits, as the automaker may wind up killing off some of its 15 brands and is also looking to reduce its workforce. Now, Stellantis is facing some backlash from its American dealers, too.
“For over two years now, the U.S. Stellantis National Dealer Council has been sounding this alarm to your U.S. executive team, warning them that the course you had set for Stellantis was going to be a disaster in the long run,” that group said in a letter to Stellantis Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares, according to Bloomberg. “A disaster not just for us, but for everyone involved – and now that disaster has arrived.”
The letter also criticized Tavares for the “rapid degradation” of the automaker’s brands, accusing him of engaging in “short-term decision making” in an effort to boost profits last year, though those same moves have also impacted the company negatively in the months since. Exploding inventory levels are also weighing heavily on dealers, who are finding it difficult to move vehicles amid an overall market slowdown.
Regardless, Stellantis responded by saying that it “took exception to the letter and that it doesn’t believe public personal attacks are the most effective way to solve problems,” adding that it launched an action plan last August based on dealer input, one that has resulted in a 21 percent sales increase and a 10 percent reduction in inventory recently. Regardless, Tavares plans to have a call with the U.S. dealer council leadership this week.
These types of issues are something that Ford is quite familiar with as well, with a recent study showing that its dealers simply don’t trust the automaker – a sentiment spurred on by its failed attempt at launching an EV dealer certification program that has since been scrapped, as well as a general lack of availability when it comes to vehicles over the course of the pandemic.
Comments
Stellantis is a “train wreck”!
Between this joker Tavares, his underlings, crap quality, high prices, it is time for a fire sale!
Iacocca could have fixed this, but he is upstairs, laughing at these clowns.
Tavares is a WEF puppet. Agenda over everything else.
Stellantis takes an anti-American stance towards automobiles and then wonders why Americans aren’t buying their product. Built products that people want, and not the products you want people to have. It’s that simple
Mr. Dickinson: You hit the nail upon it head!
“Stellantis” sounds like the name of a TV pharmaceutical ad, not a car and truck company. “I reduced my A1C with Stellantis!”. Cue the gleeful office workers dancing to and fro. Except the prescription seems to bad medicine.
Maybe more Safety Equipment in lets say the Wrangle would help. Also why did Jeep water down the 4X4 system in say the 2024 Grand Cheroke by removing the full time awd and turning it into a computer guesses when rear wheel drive only ain’t gonna cut it, but they do not explain this major downgrade to the buyer. Enoug Said, but I would have purchase a 24 Grand Cheroke if it was not watered down, and maybe a Wrangler if it had a reasonable amount of driving assit tech, but nope and nope. I am waiting to see if they bring back the smaller Cheroke and if it is worthy or the name.
It’s worth remembering that half of the issues are CAFE fines. The other half is trying to transition to a European centric product.
The new Grand Cherokee is really nice, but you cant get the 2 row with a hemi, and you can’t get the hurricane at all. They don’t have ANY SRT model on it to build hype. The 3 row does at least offer a Hemi, and is a better product overall IMO, but it’s pricey, and most of what they’re stocking are crappy builds.
Dodge really only has Durango as a good product now that charger and challenger are gone. Hornet could have been a good product if they hadn’t completely screwed it up, and it could have been a more niche product, not one of like 3 things they sell.
The real irony is that Stellantis would be better off had they kept the product they had in 2020 and just made interior and tech updates for the next decade than they are going to be for the next few years.