Multinational automaker Stellantis risks alienating huge chunks of its U.S. market as price rises cause its market share to plunge, a stateside dealer for the carmaker has warned.
Stellantis raised prices aggressively in the U.S. following its creation in 2021 through a merger between Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Group. CEO Carlos Tavares targeted profits and cost-cutting rather than growing market share.
So far, the bet hasn’t paid off.
Stellantis spooked investors in September when it became the latest automaker to issue a profit warning. Shares in the carmaker have declined more than 43% in the year to date.
The automotive giant hiked prices for its Jeep, Ram, and Chrysler brands in the U.S. thanks to strong profits between 2021 and 2023. Equity research group Bernstein says this made Stellantis “overconfident,” and now it is paying the price.
Bernstein spoke with Kenn Volz, owner of the Volz Auto Group, which includes two Stellantis dealerships, to understand why customers seemed wary about buying its cars.
Stellantis prices
Volz questioned who Stellantis was pricing its models for, name-checking its $100,000 Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
“Not everyone can afford a Wagoneer. How many people can afford a $100,000 SUV, outside of bankers and people in Manhattan?” said Volz.
“The teacher in Connecticut probably can’t afford that. So it’s like they’re limiting their addressable market.”
Volz concluded: “They’re all nice cars. They’re just all overpriced.”
Stellantis is trying to reduce inventory at its partner dealerships, in a bid to ensure there are no more than 330,000 in those locations by the end of 2024.
The carmaker regards itself as a premium brand; in other words, it is a manufacturer that has a unique selling proposition, or USP, that drivers are willing to pay a premium to obtain. Bernstein analysts, however, don’t think drivers agree with that proposition.
“Stellantis’ misplaced belief in its own pricing power means that it is losing out on customers to cheaper-priced potent competitors like the Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V,” Daniel Roeska and Stephen Reitman surmised following the conversation with Volz.
“Consumers don’t assign a premium to Stellantis, or are not in [a] position to splurge on a higher monthly payment, and the company has not addressed this issue, contributing to loss of market share.”
Bernstein says Stellantis will need to cut prices to regain market share. Once it does, however, Bernstein notes, Stellantis will struggle to bring prices back up.
A representative for Stellantis didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stellantis’s mistakes
The equity research group’s comments may align with the thoughts of Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, who blamed his “arrogance” for failing to identify three concurrent mistakes at the automaker that led to double-digit sales declines in the U.S.
Tavares said Stellantis was too slow to sell down its bloated inventory, ran into manufacturing issues, and lacked “sophistication in the way to go to market.”
“When I am saying we were arrogant, I’m talking about myself, nobody else. I’m talking about the fact that I should have acted immediately, recognizing that the convergence of those three problems was there, and we had to set up a task force to address them,” Tavares said at Stellantis’s investor day in June.
Tavares is reportedly planning an overhaul of Stellantis’s management structure to revive the carmaker’s fortunes.
Stellantis’s chairman, John Elkann, is also searching for a successor for 66-year-old Tavares, whose contract ends in 2026, Bloomberg previously reported.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
