Stellantis extends employee discount to public as tariffs drive car sales

By Nora Eckert

(Reuters) – Chrysler-parent Stellantis (STLA) is extending its employee-discount program to the wider market on some new models, the company confirmed Friday.

The automaker is giving shoppers the option of taking the employee incentive pricing, which slashes thousands of dollars off the vehicle, or accept current retail incentives.

“This week we launched aggressive and consistent incentive and marketing support for April, including an exciting and competitive enhancement that will allow our customers ‘America’s Freedom of Choice’ between employee price or current cash incentives,” a Stellantis spokesperson said in a statement.

The campaign follows a similar move from Ford Motor that Reuters first reported Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on automotive imports, and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports, have sent car companies scrambling.

This week, General Motors said it would add production jobs in the U.S., while Stellantis on Thursday announced it would temporarily lay off 900 workers at five U.S. facilities. The Jeep-maker is pausing production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants, causing the layoffs at U.S. plants that supply those other North American facilities. Nissan Motor said on Thursday it will not take new orders from the U.S. for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs.

The Stellantis program covers 2024 model year vehicles including popular Jeep, Ram and Dodge models, according to a memo viewed by Reuters. The automaker said the program begins Friday and runs through April 30.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported news of the program.

(Reporting by Nora Eckert in Detroit, additional reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Chizu Nomiyama)

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