A Few 2023 Chrysler 300Cs Have Shown Up Online, With Huge Markups

The 2023 Chrysler 300C marks the end of the brand’s reliance on internal combustion engines (ICE), and it has quickly become a highly sought-after vehicle. However, only 2,200 units of the car will be produced for the U.S. and Canada, and when pre-orders opened in September, they sold out within just 12 hours.

Chrysler was inundated with orders for the car, prompting them to close the reservation list. The goal was to ensure that they had a good pool of potential buyers on the list in case someone decided to back out of their reservation, allowing them to fill the open spot with another interested customer promptly.

In October, we learned that Chrysler sent a list of guidelines to dealers via a dealer order guide, stating the following…

• Dealer must follow up with customer within 24 hours of online reservation being submitted
• Customer order must be placed through the online reservation system
• Dealer and customer must agree upon price before securing deposit (MSRP is STRONGLY encouraged)
• Dealer must use PayPal to facilitate customer deposit (Check, Venmo, etc. are prohibited)
• Dealer must contact customer to confirm receipt of deposit
• Customer can cancel order up to D1 Status
• Dealer must refund customer deposit within 48 hours if order is cancelled, and cancel the order in VOIM
• Customer sold order address must match that of the delivery address

*If Guidelines are not met, Dealer will not be eligible to receive limited-edition Chrysler 300 allocation

Although the 2023 Chrysler 300C was initially intended to be sold exclusively to those on the reservation list, we have seen a number of dealerships listing 300Cs for sale. 

It’s possible that some customers on the reservation list decided not to purchase the car once it arrived at the dealer, freeing up the vehicle for sale to others. Alternatively, some dealerships may have obtained the car through other means, such as buying it from a salesperson or a canceled order.

Several 2023 Chrysler 300Cs have recently surfaced on automotive sales websites, including Cars.com. A couple of them have been listed with dealer markups. One, in particular, shows a markup of $50,000 over the car’s U.S. MSRP of $55,000.

Surprisingly, some dealers still insist on a significant markup for these HEMI®-powered cars. This behavior highlights the greed of some dealers and may leave a negative impression on customers who feel like they’re being taken advantage of.

Customers are increasingly informed and savvy regarding pricing, and many won’t be willing to pay an inflated price for a car. Dealers who engage in this behavior may ultimately lose business and damage their reputation. And since Stellantis hasn’t done anything to penalize its dealer body for doing such things, it’s also damaging its reputation.