Former FCA brands chart electric path with retailers

After years of lagging the industry in electrification, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram are getting ready to leap into the future with their first fully battery-powered models.

That transition to electric vehicles needs to be handled with care by the brands' new parent, Stellantis, said Eric Nielsen, owner of Nielsen Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram in East Hanover, N.J.

"We're all going to end up in electrification," he told Automotive News after the brand's NADA Show make meeting. "It's going to be a slow path, and you can't rush to it and screw it up. You've got to take it as it comes and produce a quality electric car."

Jeep's first battery-electric model arrives next year. Stellantis showed the first image of the compact Jeep EV this month. The brand also plans to launch EV options in what it calls the "pure off-road" and "lifestyle family" categories in 2024, en route to offering zero-emission variants in every utility vehicle segment by 2025.

Alfa Romeo also is electrifying its lineup. The brand is launching its first plug-in hybrid, the Tonale crossover, this year. Larry Dominique, Alfa's North America vice president, said after the brand's make meeting that he hopes the Tonale can help build familiarity for Alfa in the U.S. as it prepares to go fully electric by 2027.

"We got to talk about the premium customer, the mindset, the customer service," he said after the Alfa meeting.

During the Stellantis meeting, U.S. sales chief Jeff Kommor and his team did a good job of showing dealers where the company is going, Nielsen said. The automaker continues to work through the global microchip shortage, he said, and is trying to produce as many vehicles as possible.

Stellantis' U.S. sales fell 17 percent in the fourth quarter as the automaker dealt with the chip shortage and the ongoing pandemic, leading to a 2.3 percent sales decline for all of 2021.

"They made it very clear they want their dealers," Nielsen said. "They're not looking to distribute the cars without the dealers. We've had a 100-year relationship, and we want it to be another 100 years."