By Nora Naughton 

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said Wednesday its U.S. sales chief and head of the Ram truck brand is leaving the company to pursue outside interests, a departure that comes as the Italian-American auto maker pursues a merger with France's PSA Group.

Reid Bigland, who filed a lawsuit last year -- since dismissed -- alleging the company retaliated against him for cooperating with a federal probe into its U.S. sales-reporting practices, will depart April 3, Fiat Chrysler said. His duties will be assumed by three other executives, including Jeff Kommor, who will take responsibility for leading U.S. sales.

Mr. Bigland, a 22-year veteran of the company, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The move comes as Fiat Chrysler, led by Chief Executive Mike Manley, is working to solidify a merger deal announced last fall with PSA to create one of the world's largest auto makers by sales.

Mr. Bigland's whistleblower lawsuit alleged that the auto maker cut his pay in retaliation for cooperating with the federal investigation. At the time, the company said his pay was being evaluated by its board. That lawsuit has since been dismissed, according to court records and Mr. Bigland's lawyer.

Fiat Chrysler said all legal matters between the company and Mr. Bigland have been resolved.

Mr. Bigland, who rose through the ranks under former chief Sergio Marchionne and was a member of the company's top executive council, had taken over various responsibilities over the years, including leading luxury brands Alfa Romeo and Maserati. He also oversaw the Ram pickup-truck brand, one of the auto maker's most profitable divisions.

The 53-year-old executive helped lead the company through a period of heady U.S. sales growth, including helping it post a multi-year streak of monthly sales gains that impressed many in the industry and was promoted by Mr. Marchionne to investors as evidence of its post-bankruptcy turnaround.

However, the company's sales-reporting practice later became the subject of a dealer lawsuit and a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, probing whether the company had been inflating monthly results. The commission has said the practice lasted from August 2012 to July 2016 and misled investors about the state of the company's performance.

In 2016, Fiat Chrysler said it was revising its sales-tallying methods and restated monthly sales going back several years, revealing that its long-touted streak actually ended earlier than previously stated.

The company last fall agreed to pay $40 million to settle claims brought by the SEC that it had misled investors by paying dealers to report fake sales. The practice lasted nearly four years, giving investors the impression that the company was performing better than it actually was, the SEC said at the time.

Fiat Chrysler said the company has since reviewed and refined its policies on reporting vehicle sales.

--Christina Rogers contributed to this article.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 04, 2020 11:32 ET (16:32 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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