Stellantis dealers in a slew of U.S. cities may be in line for an educational day spent playing around with the brand’s newest vehicles — and some of its competitors’ cars this spring.
With what the automaker is calling the “Unstoppable 2026 Spring Training Tour,” dealers across the country will be offered one-day trainings, where dealers can ride along in the company’s premier products, get a feel for all of them and return to the showroom floor with hands-on experience and talking points with which they can, hopefully, sell more Stellantis cars.
It’s not abnormal for automakers to bring their best products around and train dealers about their upsides — but the scale at which Stellantis is boosting its dealership training efforts is notable.
The event is “much larger than anything that we’ve probably done in the history of our company,” according to Jason Stoicevich, Stellantis’ senior vice president of dealer strategy and performance. Before the formation of Stellantis, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) offered similar training, though it was much more abbreviated.
A training tour akin to the three-month, 20-city tour with all of the company’s American brands hasn’t been done since 2013, said Keith Yancy, director of dealer training at Stellantis.
The event will have sales and product leaders from the company teaching about 300 Stellantis dealers a day about the products they offer, with a focus on the new Jailbreak Dodge Durango, Jeep Cherokee and Chrysler Pacifica, though the company is bringing 12 different vehicles on the cross-country trip, including some key competitors of Stellantis’ top-selling cars.
The trainers are bringing 2027 Chrysler Pacificas; four-door, gas-powered Dodge Chargers; two different Dodge Durangos (GT and Jailbreak); Jeep Cherokees; Jeep Grand Wagoneers; Ram 1500s; Ram TRXs, and a select few competitor vehicles, to let dealers know what customers might also be considering.
Yancy said in a call with the news media that, along with the Stellantis cars, there will also be Honda CR-Vs, Hyundai Tucsons, Ford F-150s and Chevrolet Silverados for dealers to check out.
The large-scale training program comes as Stellantis seeks to claw back market share it has lost since forming in 2021. Along with a blitz of product launches rolled out in the last year, the training program is the latest of the automaker’s many strategies to rebound after both a yearslong slog and a more acute, brutal $26 billion net loss last year.
On Wednesday, April 1, Stellantis reported a 4% gain in sales in the first quarter of the year, bucking an industry-wide trend with most other automakers posting losses. General Motors posted a 9.7% loss, and Ford Motor Co. posted a 8.8% loss on the quarter.
To Yancy, there is hope that this program will keep sales rolling for Stellantis.
“It’s an opprotunity for us to prepare our retail network before the summer selling season so they’re motivated and they’re educated and ready to deliver the products we’re bringing,” Yancy said. “So we think the time is right.”
Liam Rappleye covers Stellantis and the UAW for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him: LRappleye@freepress.com.