The Brief

Stellantis workers say they are being unfairly ticketed for coming to work in a competitor's car.

Stellantis says it’s simply enforcing existing policy.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Stellantis workers are feeling sideswiped, saying the company is unfairly ticketing workers who show up to the Auburn Hills headquarters in a competing company’s car.

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Many workers say it’s making their return to the office extra stressful, but Stellantis says it’s simply enforcing existing policy.

A spokesperson for Stellantis says they’ve always had designated preferred parking for people who drive company-branded cars.

They say they issue multiple sticker warnings before putting a boot on a non-Stellantis vehicle parked in that preferred section, all in order to prioritize their Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, and Ram brands.

It’s worth noting the Stellantis North America Headquarters is massive with thousands of workers and many say the policy is not fair because they already have long walks to their work station and new cars are expensive, north of $50,000 at the cheapest.

FOX 2 spoke to an auto analyst and former Chrysler worker who says this type of policy is not exactly new but might rub workers the wrong way in Thursday's economy.

"When I started at Chrysler in Highland Park back in the middle to late 80s, they had a similar type of policy, and so they had competitive parking," said former president of the Center for Automotive Research Alan Amici. "It was a little bit further away from the building, and if you drove a Chrysler product you could park adjacent to the building and as a new college graduate who didn’t have a lot of money I was still driving some hand-me-down cars, and so I was in that boat, driving competitive cars."

"It would tick you off if you get a ticket," said former Automotive News Executive Editor Jamie Butters. "You’re parking, you’re trying to go to work, parking in a company lot, and you get a ticket but if I bought a RAM truck because I worked there, and somebody pulls up next to me with a Hyundai they shouldn’t be there. That would be my feeling if I was an employee."

The other side

Workers were a bit nervous to talk on camera about this, as you can imagine, but Stellantis North America sent FOX 2 a statement which reads:

"Preferred parking is reserved for company-branded vehicles. Employees must adhere to posted signage and communications to ensure company policies are followed."