The Italian marque had planned to go all-EV, but changed plans last month, saying it would be “very challenging” for dealers
- Alfa Romeo is sticking with gasoline-driven models, after saying it would phase them out
- The brand’s new chief says it’s too much of a challenge for dealers to go EV-only
- Stellantis overall is planning an “epic comeback,” including new vehicles in segments it had exited
That’s according to a report by Automotive News at the U.S. National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), which recently held its annual dealer meeting during a freak snowstorm in New Orleans.
Feuell didn’t mince words about Alfa Romeo’s position on this side of the pond. It has 110 dealers in the U.S., down from a high of 150; and half the inventory on their lots are model-year-2024 vehicles. The brand is offering incentives in the hopes of getting them into consumer hands by the end of the first quarter of 2025.
Alfa Romeo’s sales fell by 19% in 2024 overall in the U.S., marking four consecutive years of sales dropping; and by 38% in the fourth quarter. In Canada, Alfa Romeo sold a total of 887 vehicles in 2024, down 20% from the year before; fourth-quarter sales fell by 29% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. A large priority, Feuell said, is “improving some of the quality issues that we’ve had in the product.”
At the NADA event, Feuell said, “if we replicate what happened in 2024, we’ll lose a lot of dealers, and we need to rebuild the network rather than deplete it.” Transitioning from “what was a BEV (battery-electric vehicle)-only strategy to one that is multi-energy” is necessary, she said, because it would be “very challenging” for dealers “to survive with a BEV-only portfolio.”
Kommor said Stellantis is “exploring powertrain opportunities, getting ourselves back into segments that we had exited, putting our product in competitive positions, improving our quality.” He also plans to rebuild relationships between the company and its dealers, and to spend more money on advertising in local and regional markets. Stellantis held only 8.1% of the U.S. market share in 2024, falling from 9.7% in 2023, and from 11.1% in 2022.
Moody’s said that 40% of Stellantis’ vehicles sold in the U.S. come from Mexico or Canada, and that its profits could fall by “significantly more” than 15% if the tariffs take effect.
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