Stellantis, the automotive group of Peugeot, Citroën and Fiat, intends to reorganize its 1,200 points of sale and remove 20% by July. Two dealers from Nord-Franche-Comté testify to the advantages and disadvantages of this restructuring.
Carlos Tavares has been thinking about it for two years, and 2023 seems the right year for these changes. The CEO of Stellantis intends to review its network of 1,200 dealers in France to optimize its distribution. 20% of points of sale will be closed by next July, i.e. 240 distributors.
Stellantis, born in January 2021, seems indeed composite. Eight brands depend on this group: on the side of PSA, Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Opel. And for Fiat-Chrysler: Fiat, Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Maserati. Many brands therefore, with formerly competing dealers, who now appear to be numerous locally. The decision to reduce the number of points of sale goes hand in hand with the decision to distribute several brands within the same dealership.
This news does not surprise William Zimmermann, responsible for used vehicle sales in Belfort. This employee of a Fiat concession must already adapt to the strategy of Stellantis. In 2023, it will also sell Opel vehicles. “It really brings more for a seller of new vehicles who can diversify into several products, he justifies. A customer who enters a Fiat dealership today, he only comes to buy these products. Today, we will be able to offer Opel, Fiat, Peugeot, all these brands that are in the Stellantis market.” The opportunity therefore to be able to reach more customers. His point of sale, perhaps smaller than its other nearby competitors, could be threatened with closure, but William remains confident.
On the side of NEDEY Automobiles, a large dealer in Montbéliard, this restructuring does not seem to upset the organization of the point of sale. Emmanuel Maugue, Force Ouvrière union representative of NEDEY, explains: “The large groups have less risk because they are used to it, because they know where they can have the solid back to overcome this option that the group wants” .
This unionized employee concedes, however, that this measure could disadvantage dealerships of modest size. “It becomes worrying because some will fall by the wayside, so there will be employees who will lose their jobs or who will be repositioned elsewhere,” he says. Before admitting that there will be “a time of transition” to manage this novelty, especially on the after-sales side. “It’s not quite the same sales, he notes. But soon, the cars will be almost the same, there will be about five cars per brand, the same parts, the same platforms. smooth out.”
This reorganization is a way of rationalizing sales, therefore, but also of offering “better customer service”, as management justifies with Echoes. At the end of May 2021, this strategy was already at work for European Stellantis dealers, whose contracts had been terminated.
If Stellantis remains the great French automobile champion ahead of Renault, this decision comes in a context of falling sales of new vehicles in France: a drop of 8% over the year 2022, or 1.529 million registrations according to AAA DATA. The French car market is at its lowest for almost 50 years.