Stellantis Korea hit by excessive sales intervention amid falling revenue

Stellantis Korea CEO Bang Sil speaks during a press conference in Seoul, Feb. 11. Courtesy of Stellantis Korea

Stellantis Korea was ordered Wednesday to rectify its inadequate sales intervention on its retail stores, taking another hit from its steep sales fall here, the antitrust watchdog said.

According to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), a sanction was imposed on the local subsidiary of the global carmaker for violating fair trade rules by coercing its retail stores into submitting confidential sales data.

Stellantis Korea sells vehicles from two major overseas auto brands — Jeep and Peugeot.

The FTC investigation found that the carmaker had demanded that its retail stores provide documents containing their specific revenue data.

Unless the carmaker’s affiliated retail stores submitted them by the deadline, Stellantis Korea cut incentives by 0.2 percent from employees in the stores. The submitted data is seen as confidential, so the stores do not necessarily have to provide them, according to the antitrust watchdog.

“Stellantis Korea abused its power to intervene in sales activities from its retail stores,” an FTC official said.

The authority said any corporate headquarters should protect the management autonomy of their retail stores under the nation’s fair transaction law.

Stellantis Korea also required its retail stores to get prior approval before hiring employees, a practice the FTC also viewed as an excessive abuse of power.

The latest sanction is expected to further taint the carmaker’s already-weakening brand image in the local market.

Data from the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association showed the number of auto sales for Jeep plunged by 41 percent in 2024 from a year earlier. Peugeot had a bigger loss, with a drop of 53 percent during the same period.

Early this year, Stellantis Korea CEO Bang Sil pledged to increase sales for the two brands by up to 30 percent in 2025 by expanding their sales lineup.