>>> Automotive News: FCA prodded dealers to absorb glut of unordered cars, report says
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has been manufacturing more cars and trucks than its U.S. dealers are willing to accept, at one point creating a nationwide glut of about 40,000 unordered vehicles and stoking tension with some of its retailers.
Chrysler implemented sales banks in the run-up to the two times it needed rescues from the U.S. government, in 1980 and 2009. While FCA is nowhere near that sort of trouble -- it just reported record quarterly profit -- the surging supply of unassigned vehicles coincided with a period when the company was pursuing mergers. After efforts to combine with France’s Renault SA fell through, it announced a tie-up with Peugeot owner PSA Group last month.
Fiat Chrysler denies that it has restarted a sales bank. The company says it put a predictive analytics system in place early this year that aims to better align its supply chain and manufacturing plans with anticipated dealer orders