Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) announced Reid Bigland, the Ram brand head who also ran US sales and FCA Canada, was leaving the automaker on 3 April, 2020, “to pursue interests outside of FCA”.
Replacing Bigland, the company announced new appointments, all reporting to FCA North America COO Mark Stewart: Jeff Kommor as head of US sales, David Buckingham to run FCA Canada and Mike Koval as interim head of Ram North America.
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Reuters noted what FCA’s statement didn’t: Bigland, who was with Fiat Chrysler for 22 years, sued the company last year, claiming it withheld 90% of his 2018 compensation because he cooperated with a regulatory probe into its sales practices.
Over a five-year period from 2012 to 2016, the news agency added, Fiat Chrysler’s US unit used a series of fraudulent moves to falsely report new vehicle sales and tout a ‘streak’ of uninterrupted monthly year on year sales growth when it had actually ended in September 2013.
In July 2016, the company revised more than five years of monthly US vehicle sales figures to reflect a new reporting method, amid an investigation by federal authorities including the US justice department, Reuters added.
Bigland at one point ran Alfa Romeo and Maserati sales worldwide for FCA.
