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FCA Rejects Dealer Accusations in Salesgate, Claim Plaintiffs Wanted Special Treatment

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has officially responded to allegations made by two of its dealers from the United States of America.
FCA Rejects Dealer Accusations in Salesgate, Claim Plaintiffs Wanted Special Treatment 1 photo
Photo: FCA
FCA has stated it learned late of the filing of the lawsuit in Illinois Federal Court by two dealers of the Ed Napleton Automotive Group and claims the accusations are false. The automaker says the plaintiffs refused to substantiate their claims and the corporation has already done an internal investigation and determined the allegations were baseless. Furthermore, FCA affirms that the plaintiffs were notified of this fact before they filed the suit.

The FCA officials state that the dealers have gone through this lawsuit process because they failed to reach their contractual agreements with the corporation. Actually, according to their statement, these two particular dealers that have become plaintiffs in this case have consistently failed to perform contractual obligations regarding sales performance since at least 2012.

The company’s press release also notes this is not the first time the two unsatisfied dealers have threatened the corporation with legal action in an attempt to obtain special treatment. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles says the two dealers wanted several courtesies from the firm, including additional available points in the US FCA network.

The Italian-American company is determined to resist the pressures made by the dealers. Following the publication of the allegations in several media outlets, Fiat Chrysler shares on the Milan stock market fell by almost 10 percent yesterday.

At the end of the trading day, the stock finished January 14 with an 8% drop to $6.84. Later in the day, at the New York Stock Exchange, FCA shares fell 4 percent and closed at $7.53 a share.

In the USA, FCA ended last year with a seven percent growth in annual sales, marking the sixth consecutive year of annual sales growth. Moreover, last month was the best December ever recorded by the Italian-American corporation.
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 Download: Copy of Complaint by the two FCA dealers (PDF)

press release
About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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