Arnaud Leclerc has been appointed Managing Director, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles UK & Ireland, and takes up his new function straight away. He succeeds Ashley Andrew, who has left the organization.
Mr. Leclerc will oversee operations for all FCA features and types in the course of the UK and Ireland and reports at once to Alfredo Altavilla, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Chief Operating Officer, EMEA vicinity.
Mr. Leclerc (forty-three) brings to the United Kingdom operation a high stage of experience, having previously held some of the senior control roles in Britain and across Europe, along with France, Scandinavia, and Croatia. He has most recently held the roles of Deputy Director-General PSA Groupe UK and DS Brand Development Director UK.
He holds a Master’s diploma in Economics and won a Master’s Marketing diploma from Paris Dauphine.
“I am overjoyed to be joining FCA UK at a totally interesting time for the employer,” says Mr. Leclerc. “Every marketplace I’ve labored in has been precise, and this may be no specific.”
“I’m searching forward to the challenges beforehand, and to developing our commercial enterprise in the UK market even similarly. I’m also thrilled to be working with a few notable new merchandises inclusive of Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia, Fiat Tipo, and Jeep Compass.”
According to a recent article in the NY Times:
The Chrysler Group said Monday that it had now not yet accounted for tens of lots of automobiles in its inventory numbers, which might be already taken into consideration excessive by way of industry requirements. Chrysler said it had automatically excluded these vehicles, really worth billions of greenbacks, from its tally of unsold cars and trucks due to the fact they had no longer but been assigned to a particular supplier or ordered via a patron. (New York Times, October 24, 2006)
When I started mastering approximately the automotive industry, dealers and manufacturers named synthetic but unordered cars. That call becomes: “sales financial institution.” The “income bank” is a exercise that the manufacturers allege they deserted after being ravaged via the gadget at some point of the oil crises of the 1970s.
By the early 1980s, when the dirt settled, Automotive News changed into walking memories like:
Ernest D’Agostino of Rhode Island filed suit in the U.S. District Court towards Chrysler Corporation, alleging Chrysler terminated his franchise because he refused to shop for “gasoline guzzlers” — massive automobiles with low fuel mileage. A federal court docket jury observed in opposition to Chrysler and Chrysler, in an unreported case, appealed. Chrysler agreed to drop its enchantment and paid D’Agostino a agreement (Automotive News, October 1982); and
Fred Drendall, of Drendall Lincoln-Mercury/Pontiac, sued Ford Motor Company, alleging that once he tried to cancel orders, he changed into intimidated using Ford spokesmen, and whilst he bowed to the strain and ordered the automobiles, the costs of the excessive floor pressured him to refinance his dealership. He turned ultimately was terminated and suffered a coronary heart attack. (Automotive News, December 1982).
Those have been tough instances inside the automobile enterprise.
Today, most Sales and Service Agreements have provisions that include the subsequent:
2. (D) STOCKS. The supplier shall maintain stocks of cutting-edge models of such strains or collection of VEHICLES, of an assortment and in quantities as are following Company GUIDES, therefore, or good enough to satisfy the Dealer’s share of present-day and predicted call for VEHICLES within the DEALER’S LOCALITY. Therefore, the Dealer’s renovation of VEHICLE stocks shall be a challenge to the Company’s filling the Dealer’s orders. (Ford Motor Company, Mercury Sales and Service Agreement, Standard Provisions.)
Most states, however, have Dealer Day in Court Acts with provisions such as:
Art. 4413(36), SUBCHAPTER E. PROHIBITIONS. Sec 5.02. Manufacturers; Distributors; Representatives. (b) It is unlawful for any manufacturer, distributor, or consultant to: (1) Require or try to require any provider to reserve, accept transport or pay whatever of fee, immediately or circuitously, for any motor automobile, appliance, element, accessory or some other commodity except voluntarily ordered or reduced in size for utilizing such provider. (Texas Motor Vehicle Commission Code)
It shall be illegal and a contravention of this code for any producer, manufacturer department, distributor, or distributor branch certified under this code to coerce or try to coerce any dealer in this state: (a) To order or be given shipping of any motor car, part or accessory thereof, appliance, equipment or every other commodity now not required by using law which shall no longer be voluntarily ordered by the provider. (Section 11713.2 California Vehicle Code)
In addition to national laws, the National Dealer Day in Court Act additionally proscribes manufacturers and vendors from coercing a provider into accepting “car, elements, add-ons, or materials which the dealer does no longer need, need or feel the market is capable of taking in.” 1956 U.S.Code.Cong. & Admin.News, page 4603.
But, the law is usually a two-edged sword, and there is usually an excellent line drawn among actions that are proper and movements that can be unsuitable. For example, it has long been settled that a supplier’s refusal to take all the manufacturer’s line of vehicles, deciding on alternatively to promote a competitor’s models, is grounds for termination. See, as an example: Randy’s Studebaker Sales, Inc. V. Nissan Motor Corporation, 533 F.2nd 510 (10th Cor. 1976), at 515.
Consequently, before figuring out whether or not to accept or reject the transport of cars, a dealer should check with an equipped car lawyer, who is familiar with the laws within the jurisdiction wherein the motors are to be added, with recognizing to his or her unique occasions.
Note: This article is not supposed to provide a legal recommendation, nor should it’s interpreted as so doing.
John Pico is the handling partner of Advising Automobile Dealers LLC. Mr. Pico served as a courtroom appointed “Consultant to Debtor” in financial ruin instances, a “Court Appointed Mediator” in automobile disputes, the “Court Appointed Arbitrator / Appraiser” in partnership disputes, a “Court Approved Consultant to Receiver” in a check-kiting case, as a “Superior Court Mediator” in dealership/lender litigation and has been identified as a professional witness on each State and Federal ranges. He has consulted on upside-down positions of over $50 Million, out of believing position of over $four Million, and a financial institution overdraft of $30 Million. Since 1972, Mr. Pico has completed over 1,000 car dealership transactions whose mixed values exceed One Billion Dollars.
