Why dealers are betting on a brand many abandoned—and what that means for auto retail

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Welcome to The Breakdown, an analysis of auto retail’s top trends, moves, and insights—in under 5 minutes.

I can't help it—I always root for the underdog.

And aside from maybe Nissan/Infiniti, one of the most compelling redemption arcs happening in automotive right now is going on at Stellantis $STLA ( ▼ 1.57% ) (owner of the brands Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, et. al).

Fresh leadership? Check. Fresh products? Yup. And fresh perspective? ...G-d willing.

But A LOT has happened in the six months since we last covered Stellantis on the Breakdown, and it's time for an update.

So, this week I spoke to half a dozen CDJR dealers, industry analysts, and buy/sell experts, who all told me something similar: Stellantis isn't totally out the woods yet, but there is a way through.

Here's what I learned...

When I asked him why he went with Stellantis brands off the bat, he told me a big part of the reason was the lower barrier to entry.

You see, for the last few years, Stellantis dealers haven't been as profitable as they once were (find out why). So, those dealerships have been selling for lower prices on average compared to Chevrolet and Buick/GMC for example.

This gives first-time dealers a rare window of opportunity if they choose the right markets. Kyle chose a store with lower market efficiency, which he knew he could make highly profitable with enough effort.

"I would say that we're bullish on CDJR," Kyle told me. "As long as it's in the correct geographical area with the right market size. Those are the biggest factors I would say for us when we're specifically looking at those for expansion."

Dealer Matt Bowers owns several high-volume CDJR stores in the south, and he's buying two more.

“Overall, I think there's a lot of positive indications out of them—to be a car dealer, like for the next decade,” he said on Daily Dealer Live. “I think they're going to bring back models that are going to add maybe 20% to 30% to their overall volume.”

"We're recently seeing a little bit more of a drumbeat, let's say from some private dealers in particular where they say, 'well, hey, at the right price, I think Stellantis is a bargain now'... So, it might be a worthwhile addition from a risk perspective."

Here's the thing about Stellantis that keeps me up at night... it's basically become a three-car company.

Grand Cherokee. Wrangler. Ram Pickup. That's it. That's where the money is.

Otherwise, it's two minivans and an overpriced Durango (Kyle doesn’t even order Dodge inventory anymore).

So, Stellantis is now essentially "100% truck" through Jeep and Ram. And that playbook (which drove automaker profits for many years), has an expiration date.

The bigger problem? No entry point for younger buyers.

Sam Fiorani, VP of global vehicle forecasting from AutoForecast Solutions explained to me that automakers used to sell cheap cars at a loss to offset profitable big vehicles. Now vehicles have to be the same size to offset each other.

"With no need to sell those vehicles, there's no need to build them. So, everybody has abandoned this low end." Fiorani said.

Translation: Stellantis essentially relinquished those entry level buyers, hoping to conquest them later at $50,000.

Which... yeah. That's rough.

The automaker has quite a few things working in its favor…

1. The Jeep Cherokee and Ram pickup (which were both meant to be EVs) are now landing as a hybrid and EREV, respectively.

And they can do this because of how Stellantis built their platforms.

2. Stellantis has all this excess capacity in North America, and with tariffs hitting, having underutilized plants in the U.S. is suddenly valuable.

3. New CEO Antonio Filosa is planning around $10 billion in U.S. investments for plant reopenings and brand revitalization.

Stellantis isn’t fixed, but it has stopped free falling. And the next two years will decide if it can actually rebuild a full-line business or keep coasting on Jeep and Ram until the well runs dry. It has the right ingredients, but there's a finite amount of time to figure it out.

But I’m curious to find out what YOU think…

This week on the

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