Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is offering its most generous discounts in a decade as it looks to boost sales from its Dodge, Jeep, and Ram brands.
According to Bloomberg, FCA had accumulated a stock of as many as 70,000 unassigned cars at the start of December due to a move to streamline manufacturing by using data analytics to forecast demand. A number of dealerships claim that this supply has prompted FCA to force them to buy vehicles from a ‘sales bank’ that they believe could be hard to sell.
Consolidation: PSA-FCA CEO Carlos Tavares Suggests No Brands Will Be Cut In Mega Merger
The practice of using a sales bank involves an automaker building up an inventory of tens of thousands of vehicles that its dealerships haven’t ordered.
FCA recently introduced a tool headed by former Amazon executive Mark Stewart that aims to predict how many vehicles and the exact vehicle trims that the car manufacturer should sell. FCA claims this new system saved it $445 million through the third quarter and trimmed 140,000 vehicles from its total inventory. The car manufacturer denies operating a sales bank and says the over-supply is simply a short-term side effect of this new system.
While dealerships may not be all that pleased buying from FCA’s inventory, now could be a good time for consumers to buy as many FCA models are available to the general public with employee pricing, Car and Driver reports. FCA sales staff have also been asked to work overtime to sell more vehicles and reduce unassigned inventory to zero before Christmas.
