Stellantis Sparks Dealer-Driven EV Future

LOS ANGELES — Jeep and Dodge both introduced battery-electric vehicles at the latest Los Angeles Auto Show. The BEVs are the first for the Stellantis brands, which are better known for off-road ruggedness and muscle-car cred than for environmentally friendly powertrains.

To prepare its dealers for selling BEVs, Stellantis is putting together a multi-city tour to introduce dealership salespeople to the new models. Dealers will also receive in-store training on selling BEVs, Stellantis executives tell WardsAuto.

“Dealers overwhelmingly asked us for training,” Bob Broderdorf, head of Jeep North America, tells WardsAuto. “Everybody has got to get comfortable” selling BEVs, he says.

Jeep’s introductions include the Wagoneer S BEV. The large 3-row SUV, the Jeep brand’s first all-electric variant, has 600 hp and 303 miles  (488 km) of range. It is coming to market later this year, says William Coughlin, Jeep brand product marketing director.

“It can go far, and it can go quickly,” he says.

Dodge introduced a BEV model of the Charger Daytona Banshee SRT as a concept car at the LA show. It also introduced the Dodge Scat Pack BEV earlier in the year. The models are replacing the internal-combustion-engine versions of Dodge Charger and Challenger.

Dodge fans won’t be giving up anything performance-wise, Dodge CEO Matt McAlear says.

“The first thing is, we are bringing a vehicle to market that is a muscle car first and an EV second,” he says. “This is a muscle car that outperforms the muscle cars it replaces.”

Manufacturer Focuses on Getting ‘Butts in Seats’

Jeep already offers plug-in hybrid-electric versions of the Renegade and Compass, and Dodge offers several PHEV variants, so Stellantis already has trainers visiting dealerships, says Broderdorf.

But demand for those electrified vehicles varies widely among the more than 2,400 Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram (CDJR) dealers’ markets in the U.S., and consistency is hard to maintain, he says.

“One of the things you see where our dealer network needs help is, there are some markets that skew wildly more to (B)EVs than others,” he says.

The training program Stellantis is putting together will have an in-store component and larger events that include driving track experiences where dealers can not only try out the BEVs but also share best practices.

Stellantis is still working out the details of this training “road show,” such as which cities it will be held in, says Broderdorf. But he is adamant that the driving experience is crucial.

“Many of these dealers are selling (BEVs) for the first time,” he says. “Just getting butts in seats so they can see how (B)EVs feel and what they do totally changes the perception.”

Detroit Pilot

The individual store component also is important because for one, Jeep and Dodge are very different brands, says Broderdorf. “I still need a Jeep moment and a Dodge moment,” he says.

Also, participation is much higher with individual store training: “If I do one big event and ask people to send people to it, I will get less attendance.”

Stellantis piloted the individual store concept with a Detroit-area CDJR store Broderdorf declines to identify. That dealer “asked for bigger and said, ‘Give me more,’” he says.

Training all the salespeople in a store is crucial, says Broderdorf. Training one “expert” who then moves to another store is ineffective, he says. 

“You have to embrace (selling BEVs) completely as a dealer body,” says Broderdorf. “You won’t get real change unless everybody is rowing the boat.”