Stellantis criticised for pre-reg demands despite delivery delays

Stellantis has come under fire for demanding early registration of, and up-front payments for, vehicles that might not be delivered for months.

The OEM giant behind brands including Citroen, Fiat, Peugeot and Vauxhall is accused of trying to “force the market” with pre-registrations despite an inability to deliver on customers’ new vehicle orders.

Stellantis UK group managing director Paul Willcox said that that the situation is the result of efforts to portray the UK as a “low stock market” in order to guarantee a greater volume of the OEM’s manufacturing output.

One Stellantis franchisee told our sister title AM: “If Stellantis were just able to let people know when their cars would come then the issue might be lessened, but most are being left in the dark.

“The truth is that Stellantis is trying to force the market in order to get registrations at a time when it cannot deliver cars.

“It’s a situation that is causing noise in the network and frustration among customers and that is the last thing that anyone needs right now – least of all Stellantis.”

The pre-registration and logistics issued faced by Stellantis come as it works towards a wide-reaching restructure of its UK retail network and the roll-out of a new agency model distribution strategy for Europe.

Last month car retailers – who were issued with two-year terminations notices in 2020 to facilitate the shift from franchise agreements – were told the plan was put back six months, to January 1, 2024.

A spokesperson for Stellantis said: “Vehicle production continues to be constrained due to Covid and component shortages across the industry. 

“Our ability to satisfy the significant demand for our products is constrained leading to unprecedented lead times for our customers. 

“More recently, the logistics sector in both the UK and across Europe is facing a shortage of drivers due to the war in Ukraine. 

“This shortage continues to impact the production volume of the automotive industry compounded further by port congestion and railroad instability.

“The consequence for our customers is that they have long waiting times and delivery date accuracy slipping. 

“Facing this situation, we have taken various actions to ensure that customer orders are fulfilled as quickly as possible focussing on ‘first come, first served’. 

“Our focus has been to support these customers by increasing supply and pulling volume through the network at a faster rate.”