LAS VEGAS — This is the year that Stellantis NV's U.S. vehicle sales must start growing again, after seven straight annual declines and prior promises that a recovery was just around the corner.

That was the blunt takeaway from a packed closed-door meeting on Wednesday between the automaker's senior executives and much of its 2,400-member dealer body at the National Automobile Dealers Association annual convention.

"2026 is the year of execution, and we're counting on our dealers to deliver," Jeff Kommor, who leads U.S. sales for Stellantis, told The Detroit News after the meeting. "We've given them all the tools that they need. Excuses are over. There are no more excuses."

The Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram retailers have heard this message that a sales turnaround is imminent before — including a year ago, at the NADA gathering in New Orleans. Sales ultimately fell 4% for the year.

Kommor said now the carmaker's domestic sales recovery has to happen, as it pulls out all the stops to help its long-frustrated dealer network start moving more metal again.

The goal, he said, is a 25% increase year-over-year in retail vehicle sales for 2026.

There are reasons for optimism. A flurry of new or refreshed vehicles, some of them delayed, will hit dealer lots in the next few months. Many have Hemi V-8 engines or other gas and mild hybrid powertrain options that the automaker now believes will sell better than the all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles it had recently focused on.

"The product is everything," said Sean Hogan, a Los Angeles-area Stellantis dealer who heads the automaker's national dealer council, pointing to models such as the all-new Jeep Cherokee, as well as the brand's refreshed Grand Wagoneer and Grand Cherokee.

Stellantis has readjusted pricing and trims across many models, including throughout the top-selling Jeep lineup, where dealers previously complained of exorbitant MSRPs. It has also helped dealers clear their lots of several older and unpopular models that had piled up, dating back to 2024.

And Kommor said the company, starting late last year, began channeling record levels of money toward marketing at regional and local levels to support dealers, and has returned to a more collaborative approach with them on how best to market their cars in certain large markets.

"We're going to spend more in advertising support in 2026 with our dealers at lower funnel, getting the message out to our customers," he said. "Historical, best ever."

Yet larger economic forces could derail the company's turnaround push this year. Consumer confidence is down amid concerns over inflation and a sluggish job market, and new car sales this year are expected to fall slightly for 2026. A top executive at rival General Motors Co. flagged on Wednesday how that company is bracing for an eventual economic downturn, including with managing dealer inventories.

The dealers jammed into a massive room at the Las Vegas Convention Center that got so full that some had to be turned away. CEO Antonio Filosa had been expected to address them in person but couldn't make it and provided a video address. After the meeting, Stellantis executives showed them several new models at a nearby casino, including the coming Ram Dakota midsize truck.

"I don't think we got everything we wanted in 2025," Hogan said. "We had a lot of wins, and a lot of stuff we did behind the scenes, and I think that's why you had such a record attendance today, is because everybody knew that 2026 is the pivotal year, where we can really lay it down."

He noted recent trends were moving in the right direction, including a fourth-quarter sales increase, with January sales also higher year-over-year. He said expectations are that the next few months will also look healthier compared to a year ago.

"We need straight-up volume," he said. "We need transactions. So that's going to be the key part. And we're going to see that right away."

Stellantis U.S. market share has hovered around 8% the last two years, a steep decline from its 12.5% or so share as recently as 2020 under its predecessor company.

The sales troubles have contributed to sharply falling profits both for the company and many individual Stellantis retailers, and those financial troubles have continued through much of the past year.

Still, Kommor said about half of the automaker's retailers did grow on a year-over-year basis. The reason the sales recovery didn't materialize in 2025, he said, was the bumpy year with tariffs, changing emissions standards and the loss of the EV tax credit that forced the automaker to rethink its plans. The company also didn't have a CEO in place until June after Carlos Tavares resigned in December 2024.

Among the Stellantis dealers still struggling to break even is Jim Walen, who operates a large Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram store in Seattle. Stellantis dealers collectively remain a pretty unhappy bunch, he said, as many have struggled financially.

But Walen finally sees reason for optimism, especially as he clears certain older and troublesome models, such as the Dodge Hornet and Jeep plug-in hybrids, off his lot and prepares for a full suite of high-powered pickup trucks — including an expected sub-$40,000 option — redesigned Dodge Charger muscle cars, and the new Cherokee.

"The pricing is aligned right, they've got the right products," he said.

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