Stellantis began changing allocations for the two groups of states about two months ago. The automaker told dealers in April that the CARB states are enforcing tougher greenhouse gas standards retroactively to the 2021 model year. Those standards are separate from the zero-emission sales minimums that begin in 2026.
About 36 percent of the U.S. population lives in the 14 CARB states, according to 2023 Census Bureau estimates. Four additional states are adopting the California standards for future model years.
Dealers in the CARB states worry they’ll be at a disadvantage if consumers start crossing state lines to buy gasoline vehicles from another store’s inventory rather than wait for a factory order. Some are working to trade for gasoline vehicles with stores in adjacent states.
“I think many of us expected when the CARB rules actually kick in in 2026 in a meaningful way that we’d have some allocation challenges,” said Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association. “The fact that it’s happening [with Stellantis] in the middle of 2023 is a bit of a surprise. … People are going to go to Reno and Vegas and Phoenix to get ICE Wranglers, if that’s what they want.”
Kelleher, who owns David Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram, received no gasoline-only Wranglers last month and 80 plug-ins. Last year, he typically got 40 gasoline models and 15 of the 4xe each month.
All the states close to Kelleher’s store near Philadelphia are part of the CARB framework, but he said dealers in western Pennsylvania could lose customers to Ohio or West Virginia, where Stellantis is still allocating gasoline vehicles.
Brian Heney, CEO of Kelly Automotive Group in Massachusetts, a CARB state, said many customers have grown accustomed to ordering new vehicles and waiting for them to arrive. “While we are being impacted by this move, we are finding ways to assist our customers, and keep them in our family,” Heney said in an email. “We do find that some Wrangler customers have less patience for waiting, however, in the warm weather months and will see how this affects our business and our local customers moving forwards into the summer.”
