Fiat Chrysler contends US lawsuit is without merit

A lawsuit has been filed against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles by a car dealership in the US that alleged the carmaker inflated sales figures by offering money to report unsold vehicles as sold.

FCA said it would contest the claim as it believed it was "without merit" and had also not yet been served on its US LLC.

The Italian-US company, which is headquartered in London, said it understood the claim alleged that FCA US offered dealerships financial incentives to falsely report vehicle sales by reporting retail unit sales in one month and reversing them in the following month.

Fiat said it believed the claim "was filed by internal counsel to the dealer group as FCA US has concurrently been discussing with the dealer group the need to meet its obligations under some of its dealer agreements".

"The company is confident in the integrity of its business processes and dealer arrangements and intends to defend this action vigorously."