Stellantis joins Ford in offering customers employee discount pricing following tariffs
Stellantis NV's offering will run through the end of the month, the automaker confirmed in a statement. The promotion comes a day after President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on imported vehicles began being collected, and the transatlantic automaker said it would idle a plant each in Canada and Mexico for weeks.
'This week we launched aggressive and consistent incentive and marketing support for April,' Stellantis spokesperson Jodi Tinson said in a statement, 'including an exciting and competitive enhancement that will allow our customers 'America's Freedom of Choice' between Employee Price or current cash incentives.'
The company directed customers to their local dealership to determine their best deal.
Stellantis has faced a year of sales declines from too-high pricing and the incorrect mix of vehicles on the ground, deteriorating market share. With concerns that higher costs from tariffs could results in higher prices for consumers, the promotion could offer a needed boost to sales.
Stellantis in the first quarter of 2025 recorded a 12% year-over-year decline in U.S. sales from weakness in commercial fleet sales to rental companies, governments and businesses. Because of the trade environment, starting Monday the company is idling its Windsor Assembly Plant in Ontario that builds the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and Dodge Charger Daytona electric muscle car for two weeks and the Toluca Assembly Plant in Mexico that builds the Jeep Compass crossover and Jeep Wagoneer S SUV for a month.
Ford - which reported a decrease in U.S. sales of 1.3% in the first quarter - on Thursday introduced a 'From America, For America' campaign offering employee discounts that range roughly between $2,000 and $10,000 off the manufacturer's suggested retail price on most of its Ford and Lincoln models. The Dearborn automaker, which has some of the highest dealer inventory in the industry, said it's looking to inject certainty for consumers in an environment that lacks it.
The Blue Oval's campaign also highlights the automaker as the company that manufactures more vehicles in this country than any other, and builds 80% of what it sells here in the United States.
With Ford and Stellantis offering employee discount pricing, will General Motors Co., which posted a 17% increase in U.S. vehicle sales in the first three months of the year, do the same?
'We are not making any changes to our April incentives,' GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly said in an email.
Analysts have said GM is one of the most vulnerable automakers to the tariffs. Models accounting for 58% of its U.S. sales are built outside the United States, and the Detroit automaker is one of the largest importers of foreign-built vehicles from places like Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. GM this week said it's increasing production of cash-cow full-size pickup trucks at its assembly plant near Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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