Antonio Filosa held court today on a quarterly earnings call for Stellantis, giving details to investors and reporters about the company’s efforts to kick-start a better second half.
Key points to which the CEO referred were movement on the product side, a reduction in standing inventory, mending of fences with dealers, and a reintroduction of popular options (read: the Hemi V8) in North America. Given that market used to be the Stellantis powerhouse in terms of profit, that change should be considered no small consequence.
It seems the recently announced Ram 1500 Express, a truck with good looks and plenty of equipment yet priced under 50 grand, was the product of conversations with dealers. One can imagine the discussions, with dealer principals and general managers raging about the lack of product to offer shoppers once in the market for the now-discontinued Ram 1500 Classic.
The same can be said for the upcoming Cherokee, a model playing in a brutally competitive segment in which just about every major brand has an entrant – except for Jeep, of course, which has been absent from it for the last two years. Lost on no one is the irony that a brand built on off-road cred and whose lineup is composed solely of SUVs (save the Gladiator) doesn’t have a direct competitor to the RAV4 and CR-V.
Company suits are bullish on the new Cherokee, with the head of Stellantis’ national dealer council telling Automotive News that it will be a ‘home run’ if the thing is priced appropriately. In that, we feel he should be optimistic seeing as how the brand seems to have learned from such mistakes of the last three or four years. Seeing ex-CEO ‘Clueless’ Carlos Tavares sail his way back over the pond to Europe must also be a relief.
One more thing: the word ‘tariff’ was uttered no fewer than twenty-five times during the call, with estimates by executives suggesting the things will cost the company approximately $1.7 billion this calendar year. We’ll leave commentary about tariff taxes to the B&B.
[Images: Stellantis]
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