Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Fiat and Chrysler, two name brands that are tanking. Without Jeep and Dodge truck sales, they'd probably be bankrupt

From March of 2015 to March  2016

Sales of the Chrysler 200 mid-size sedan plummeted a stunning 68%

FCA's Chrysler brand fell 13%

Fiat sales declined 24%

But

Jeep brand posted a sales gain of 15%

Four Jeep models, the Cherokee, Compass, Wrangler and Renegade, posted their best March sales month ever.

The April US Auto Sales figures are out.

The bad news - Fiat sales fell 19%,
 Chrysler brand sales dropped 18%, and
Dodge dropped 3% despite a
Grand Caravan sales increase of 116%, and
Durango posting a 17% year-over-year sales gain for its best April since 2005.

Still, Fiat-Chrysler sales overall rose 6% - the company's best April sales level in 11 years.

 This was due to Jeep and Ram sales.
 Jeep rose 17% over April 2015 for its best April sales ever.
 Grand Cherokee sales rose 12%,
Jeep Compass went up 124%, while the
Renegade posted a whopping 131% monthly sales gain.
Ram Truck brand was up 12%, their best April sales since 2005.

5 comments:

  1. Fiat making a big American style SUV was a mistake. Heck, they should have kept the Fiat 500 smaller.

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    1. agreed. The 500 now has some ridiculously big models, like the Mini. They can't figure out the only reason we liked the Mini was due to it's small size. Why have car makers always grown their cars larger, and had to start over with smaller cars? Never ending cycle

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    2. Agreed Jesse, on another note, what would happen if Chrysler returned to racing in the NASCAR venue? Seems to me the old adage "What wins on Sunday sells on Monday" still might have some credence. Is it really too little too late?

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    3. They went back to Nascar racing about 10 or 15 years ago, then bailed out. Too expensive to race, it was a financial drain. You can't make money from sales driven by racing wins anymore, not like in the 60s when a winning season cost a million, and the kitty was another couple million. They used to be able to break even just from trophy money, as I understand, but now, to just be competitive is a 100 million, and even winning it all won't make up half the costs.

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    4. Then I see no other outcome other then Ma MoPar going belly up. And another great moniker bites the dust.

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