On today’s edition of CBT Live, Joe Laham, President of Premier Companies, joins the show to discuss Stellantis’ new minimum allowable advertised price (MAAP) requirements taking effect October 1. Laham said the policy brings Stellantis in line with brands like Audi, BMW, Volvo and Mazda, which have had similar pricing floors for years, and argued it protects brand value across the dealer network.
Laham pointed to his own operation as proof the model works. Premier Companies has run negotiation-free since 1995, a shift he made, he said, to build a business his family could be proud to hand down. He credited increased FTC scrutiny of dealer advertising practices with accelerating the industrywide move toward pricing transparency.
When asked about the prospect of Chinese automakers building vehicles in the U.S., Laham said he’d oppose it outright, citing government subsidies and a pattern of intellectual property theft. “They copied everybody, they stole our technology, they stole our IP, and they’re building all these cars because they have no legacy costs,” Laham said.
On powertrain strategy, Laham said Stellantis is running internal combustion, hybrid and battery-electric vehicles side by side rather than betting on one technology, with a hydrogen fuel cell partnership tied to BMW and Toyota also in the mix. He said each option serves a different segment of buyers and argued that the government should stay out of dictating which one wins.
