Automaker to Pay $40 Million for Misleading Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Michigan-based automaker FCA US LLC, and its parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., for misleading investors about the number of new vehicles sold each month to customers in the United States. FCA US and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have agreed to pay $40 million to settle the charges. According to the SEC’s order, between 2012 and 2016, FCA US issued monthly press releases falsely reporting new vehicle sales and falsely touting a “streak” of uninterrupted monthly year-over-year sales growth, when in fact, the growth streak had been broken in September 2013. FCA US and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles included the press releases in their SEC filings.