NEW ORLEANS — Stellantis NV executives on Saturday repeatedly apologized to dealers who suffered through dismal sales results much of last year, promising a bounce-back in 2025 through more consistent vehicle incentive programs, increased advertising, and several vehicle tweaks.

"We were all over the board last year on our product, our pricing, our incentives, and consistency is what the dealers are really looking forward to — not changing or guessing," Jeff Kommor, who leads U.S. sales for Stellantis, told The Detroit News following the closed-door meeting. "They're looking forward to a strong 2025, and based on our promises and commitments to them, it's going to be a good year."

The meeting between executives and many of the nation's 2,600 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram dealers was held at the National Automobile Dealers Association's annual convention in New Orleans; the event runs through Sunday.

Scheduled to last just over an hour, the meeting stretched past two. Executives discussed aiming to boost sales by 30% on certain brands such as Jeep and Ram, a renewed advertising push including at the Super Bowl to pre-pandemic levels, and offering more affordable options in the Ram pickup lineup, dealers said.

"Everything's moving in the right direction," said Mike Bettenhausen, who has Stellantis dealerships in suburban Chicago and is chairman of the automaker's national dealer council.

Dealers, he added, believe in a new crop of executives who include Antonio Filosa over the North American region, Tim Kuniskis coming out of retirement to lead Ram, as well as Kommor recently returning to an expanded U.S. sales role.

"It was a shockingly good meeting," said Ralph Mahalak Jr., who owns Stellantis dealerships in Michigan, Ohio and Florida.

He said afterward he's eager to "order up, and hire more sales people" — including after being assured there would no longer be heavy-handed oversight from overseas. In a display of returning to the old ways of doing business and reestablishing a trusting relationship with dealers to boost sales, Stellantis executives at one point showed a video of the legendary late CEO of the company, Sergio Marchionne.

The dealers were informed of several product changes for 2025, including pushing back the launch of the electric Jeep Recon SUV to late in the year, and potentially adding gas and hybrid powertrains for the rugged off-roader. In addition, the retailers were told the automaker is seeking to launch gas-powered versions of its new Dodge Charger by summer, after an electric iteration came began hitting dealers in recent weeks. In addition, executives committed to expanding the Ram lineup, including a mid-size truck, and more affordable trims of the full-size Ram 1500.

Kommor said he hopes to regain Ram market share in the coming year, setting a goal of selling 10,000 or more additional Rams a month than 2024.

"Our market share is way below where it needs to be for the Motor Trend Truck of the Year," he said. "So there's opportunity there."

Dealers had become increasingly frustrated with former CEO Carlos Tavares, as well as former North American chief Carlos Zarlenga, and believed too many key decisions impacting their businesses were being made by executives in Europe without a feel for the American market.

Many Stellantis dealers are still in recovery mode after Stellantis market share dropped and 2024 U.S. sales fell 15% below the prior year. Some said months ago they were worried whether their business would survive after a few months when sales dropped especially precipitously.

But change came late in the year, as Stellantis offered more aggressive vehicle incentives and upped marketing efforts to start getting dealers' glut of inventory moving again. Tavares — a man dealers had grown increasingly convinced was the root of their problems — abruptly departed the company in December.

That led to a reset of relations between dealers and the Stellantis executive team in North America, which has in recent weeks been trying to mend fences and set a new course to regain market share in 2025.

Filosa told reporters at The Detroit Auto Show he is taking a more hands-on approach, meeting with dealers and listening to their concerns and ideas. That's a departure from the Tavares leadership, some dealers have said, when there was a more top-down policy approach to dictating sales and other strategies.

"Anytime that I can travel outside of Michigan, I meet dealers," he said. "And also in Michigan, obviously I meet dealers. So this is a major focus, not only to me, but to my team."

Bettenhausen, the Illinois dealer, said while the momentum is positive over the past 45 days, there is still significant room for further improvement through 2025.

"We certainly have got to improve quality," he said. "We certainly have got to improve the customer experiences within our dealership. We've got to stay focused on managing our inventory. We need the assistance of them (Stellantis executives), making sure that we've got a push-pull system where they're taking inventory off of our lots, and not letting inventory age."

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