As the UK car market celebrated a return to growth in November, Stellantis suffered a “disastrous” month in which new cars went missing amid a changeover in distribution systems.
Registrations of the company’s Peugeot brand more than halved in November to just 2367 – not far off Porsche numbers. Meanwhile, Citroën sales were down 13%, Fiat was down 39% and Vauxhall was down 6%.
Meanwhile, the overall UK car market rose 23% on the back of returning chip supply compared with the same month last year, according to UK motoring lobby organising the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Problems arose as Stellantis cut ties with logistics company Gefco, which Peugeot used to own.
“We’ve had lots of issues in November,” a source with knowledge of the problem told Autocar Business, describing the sales figures as “disastrous”. UK deliveries should return to normal next month, they said.
Customers have become resigned to long delays waiting for new cars as car makers struggled to keep up with demand amid parts shortages. However, many of the affected buyers of Stellantis cars had been informed that their vehicles were en route to the dealer and to expect imminent handover – only to be told of the new delays.
One buyer was informed by their supplier that their new Citroën was one of 5000 vehicles “lost” while moving logistics data from Gefco to a new Stellantis “central transport system” database. “A manual process is being undertaken to locate those vehicles,” the customer was told in a note seen by Autocar Business.
The loss of the database information resulted in dealers not knowing whether cars had undergone the pre-delivery inspection (PDI).
“This can mean that a delivery could be cancelled at short notice, as dealers are only being advised of the lack of a PDI on collection of the vehicle for delivery,” according to the note sent to the Citroën customer, who wanted to remain anonymous. The customer was told that dealers are “are arranging self-collections from the PDI centre”.