Fiat Chrysler sales revision shows streak ended in ’13

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Tuesday said it has revised the way it counts monthly sales figures of new cars and trucks and now says its sales streak of 75 months of consecutive gains actually ended in September 2013.

It said that under the revisions, there were three months in which it had reported sales gains but now will report them as declines.

The automaker’s decision to issue a lengthy explanation detailing how the company and its dealers report sales comes in the wake of media reports and a federal investigation that questions the way it reports sales.

Fiat Chrysler acknowledged it is facing scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice.

Monday, Automotive News reported the automaker conducted an internal review last year that revealed its sales figures had been overstated by several thousand vehicles.

“These reports have mistakenly suggested that potential inaccuracies in the monthly data somehow impact the integrity of FCA’s reported revenues in its financial statements,” the automaker said.

Previously, FCA said, it was possible for dealers to report sales one month to “unwind” a transaction recorded in its system and return the vehicle to the dealer’s unsold inventory.

“It is admittedly also possible that a dealer may register the sale in an effort to meet a volume objective (without a specific customer supporting the transaction),” Fiat Chrysler said. “There is, however, no obvious economic incentive for a dealer to do so, since FCA U.S.’s policy is to reverse all incentives due or paid to a dealer that resulted from the unwound transaction.”

In the future, Fiat Chrysler said those “unwound” sales would be culled from its system.