Stellantis terminates all Franchise Dealership contracts in Europe, moving to new multi-brand contracts

[AlexB]

Stellantis will end all current sales and service distribution contracts with European dealers for its 14 brands, with effect from June 2023, with the aim of restructuring its network, the group said in a statement.

The move comes as the world's fourth largest carmaker seeks to anticipate regulatory changes in the industry and better adapt it to changes in distribution models forced by electrification, it said in a statement issued on Wednesday and seen by Reuters on Thursday.

Current contracts will be terminated at the end of this month, giving dealers a two years' notice, while the new distribution network will be selected shortly thereafter, based on objective key criteria and factors, Stellantis said.

The group wants to promote a distribution model based on a multi-brand distribution network of Stellantis, ensuring high standards of its sales and after-sales activities, it added

Stellantis to end current contracts with European dealers effective June 2023

Carmaker Stellantis will end all current sales and service distribution contracts with European dealers for its 14 brands, with effect from June 2023, with the aim of restructuring its network, the group said in a statement.

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[AlexB]

Getting rid contracts done by GM make sense regarding Opel make sense.
Make all Europeans Stellantis dealers sale Jeep also is wise, and should help in France & U.K.
But I feel it would be mistake to sale all brands under the same roof(ala CDRJ in the U.S.), and will overtime lead to the end of the Citroën brand.
The commercial vehicle business wouldn't make sense either given the way fleets buys vehicles, so all the Stellantis LCV's in European market could be rolled into the RAM brand.

 

[Deckard Cain]

Getting rid contracts done by GM make sense regarding Opel make sense.
Make all Europeans Stellantis dealers sale Jeep also is wise, and should help in France & U.K.
But I feel it would be mistake to sale all brands under the same roof(ala CDRJ in the U.S.), and will overtime lead to the end of the Citroën brand.
The commercial vehicle business wouldn't make sense either given the way fleets buys vehicles, so all the Stellantis LCV's in European market could be rolled into the RAM brand.

I doubt they will sell them all in a common showroom. Right now Citroen, Peugeot and DS are usually in separate showrooms, even if in the same building/contiguous buildings.

 

[AlexB]

I doubt they will sell them all in a common showroom. Right now Citroen, Peugeot and DS are usually in separate showrooms, even if in the same building/contiguous buildings.

I hope its the ''PSA' way ' of separate showroom, but even then it won't make sense to have multiple LCV/Commercial vehicles brands in the same building and with the same service.

 

[pumadog]

This has happened before at European FCA dealers a couple of years ago. Much turmoil.

The Ram brand is worth nothing in the European LCV market.

 

[Bili]

This is done because of upcoming EU regulations.

 

[Bili]

Make all Europeans Stellantis dealers sale Jeep also is wise, and should help in France & U.K.

Jeep just isn't attractive in "Protestant" Europe. Just look at their review and compare it to "Catholic" Europe. Roughly it's such division.

Multibrand dealerships are just not the way to go in Europe especially if Stellantis wants to offer full line up for each brand and AFAIK Stellantis for Europe indeed has a plan which includes at least one new model per year for each brand.

 

[Deckard Cain]

I really hope they do not go the multibrand dealership.

 

[Deckard Cain]

I hope its the ''PSA' way ' of separate showroom, but even then it won't make sense to have multiple LCV/Commercial vehicles brands in the same building and with the same service.

I agree with you. But let me tell that the dealership experience in Europe is not homogeneous between the different countries. I can tell you that you have some cases like this in Portugal, but I also know of plenty separate dealerships for Citroen, Peugeot and even DS.
Hopefully they do the same for the FCA brands. In that case, there's plenty of overlap of brands in the same dealership and that to me is counter productive.
As a frame of reference VW have separate dealerships in Portugal even though they are ran by the same dealer group (excluding Seat which is ran by a different dealer group from all the other VW brands).

 

[AlexB]

This has happened before at European FCA dealers a couple of years ago. Much turmoil.

The Ram brand is worth nothing in the European LCV market.

But with “multiple brands at one dealership” model it make no sense have 3/4 different Commercial Vehicle Brands in the same dealers which makes communicating with Fleet mangers harder.
So the RAM brand wouldn’t have be of worth, it is cleaning up the mess cause by “multiple brands at one dealership” model.

I agree with @Bili I hope no “ multiple brand in one dealership “ model outside of a Jeep requirement.