Fiat dealers in the U.S. will be allowed to combine operations with adjacent Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram stores. This is a part of Fiat Chrysler's new plan aiming to boost the sales of the brand.
This strategy could save a retailer selling 15 new Fiats a month an average of $180,000 per year in duplicate third-party vendor expenses. Dealers who decide to stick with the existing stand-alone Fiat showroom will receive about two-thirds of the savings as well as other benefits to their monthly operations. FCA will also simplify its underperforming Fiat product lineup -- cutting the number of trim levels to limit price overlap among nameplates. Pricing will be affected, but details of those changes aren’t yet available.
The measures are aimed at halting Fiat’s sales decline and restoring dealers’ faith in the brand. Less than half of the 206 Fiat's dealerships are profitable, and the majority of them are owned by Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram dealers. In 2011 Fiat dealers were required to apply for separate franchises, not just open Fiat showrooms in their existing dealerships. But under the new plan Fiat dealers can consolidate operations under a single dealer code, apply Fiat sales toward monthly sales goals and incentives, receive direct payments each month in the form of rent assistance and receive additional incentives to sell Fiat vehicles, such as lucrative stair-step incentives.
