Stellantis standards blamed for closure of Fiat, Alfa, Jeep car dealership

A combined Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Abarth car dealership near Solihull is set to close next week because it cannot accommodate the new requirements of car manufacturer group Stellantis.

AM100 dealer group Johnsons Cars, which owns the dealership close to the M42 motorway, said staff will be redeployed to its other sites and no job losses will occur.

Limitations on the site's development potential has been blamed for the move.

Last decade, in response to declining new car market share, many Fiat franchisees were permitted to add FCA Group brands Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Abarth to their sites to make dealerships more viable. The manufacturer led the way, multi-franchising its own sites in 2011.

But now it appears the focus has changed again, with Stellantis seeking to separate brands.

The Birmingham Live website reports that franchise director Mary Perkins announced the closure to customers, adding that the decision had been made "with regret" after consultation between Johnsons and Stellantis.

Perkins added: "With the planned arrival of new vehicles, Stellantis has decided they will require separate facilities for each brand and regrettably, due to the physical size of the site we are unable to expand the premises further."

Johnsons said this does not in any way impact its other 58 Johnsons sites which will continue to operate as normal with 16 franchises across England.

"The decision has not been taken lightly," Perkins said.

Stellantis is also committed to moving its franchised dealers onto agency model contracts in the next few years, although has pushed back the starting point.

Perkins said Johnsons will retain its much larger FCA dealership at Swindon which represents Fiat, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Fiat commercial vehicles.