Fiat Chrysler Knew About Inflated Sales Figures: Report
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles stopped inflating monthly sales figures after uncovering the practice last year, according to sources within the automaker.
The two insiders told Automotive News that the practice, which involved artificially boosting sales numbers before rolling them back the following month, was discovered by an internal review in mid-2015. FCA sales chief Reid Bigland reportedly put a stop to the practice.
FCA is now under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Earlier this year, an Illinois dealer group filed a racketeering lawsuit against the automaker. Napleton Automotive Group claims FCA provided cash to dealers who filed false sales reports at the end of the month to boost the automaker’s delivery numbers. Napleton claims that dealers canceled the sales at the beginning of the next month.
The company sources said between 5,000 and 6,000 falsified sales were found during the review. It seems that corporate boasting was at the heart of the alleged deception — the practice aimed to keep FCA’s month-over-month sales streak alive. (Take a closer look at recent monthly sales tallies here.)
A fairly shocking allegation from one of the sources — if true — is that the dealer complaints reached FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne before Bigland killed the practice.
Sales would be easy to inflate at FCA, given the automaker’s unique reporting practices.
In a statement issued last week, the automaker said, “In its annual and quarterly financial statements, FCA records revenues based on shipments to dealers and customers and not on reported vehicle unit sales to end customers.”
FCA claims a 75-month sales streak, with last year’s annual tally being its best in a decade.
More by Steph Willems
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At the tree dealers I worked at, no names mentioned, this was a common practice by the sales manager. The risks were worth the month end bonuses and quarterly bonuses, we had so many fake sales, demos, loaners, managers with 3 cars under their names I couldn't keep count. The problem is someone got caught or wasn't receiving their bonuses so they decided to speak out. BMW notoriously dumps their cars at cost and would have 30-50 Demos on in inventory.
From all the 200s I've seen lately, FCA must be giving those away! Sorry, BTSR, hellcats aren't the answer - most would not want one - me, for sure. Most want something economical, reliable (FCA ain't, and never will be), smooth riding and easy to live with on a daily basis. After all, what good is all that horsepower when you sit in traffic on your commute? That's the life for the majority of us, and that gets expensive very quickly. In any case, the answer isn't going to come from anything FCA throws out there.