Chrysler Posts Big Midyear Numbers for Wrangler, 300, 500

Jeep Wrangler posts another record-setting sales month in June, right on schedule.

Brand officials earlier predicted the model would continue at all-time-high levels, following on May’s best-ever monthly performance.

Wrangler’s 14,461 deliveries in June topped May’s tally by just seven units, according to WardsAuto data. The total brings year-to-date sales to 70,871, up 33.1% from like-2011.

“There has been demand for the vehicle,” Jim Morrison, director-Jeep product marketing, noted last week at a media backgrounder for ’13-model vehicles.

The Wrangler was Chrysler’s second best-selling model last month behind the Ram Pickup, which saw demand rise 23.3% from like-2011. The SUV also is the auto maker’s third top-seller so far in 2012.

The Fiat 500 subcompact also continues on a steady pace after its slow U.S. launch last year. Sales stood at 4,004 units in June, exactly one more than in May, but up 113.9% from year-ago. Chrysler has sold 20,706 Fiat 500s this year, a number expected to grow as the Abarth performance version of the small car begins to arrive in showrooms.

Year-to-date, all of Chrysler’s vehicles are on an upswing from like-2011 except for the Dodge Durango, which has suffered a 9.0% decline. Other than the Fiat 500, which sold little in 2011, the Chrysler 300 posted the highest year-to-date gain, with sales spiking 198.23%, WardsAuto data shows.

Midyear figures also show Dodge, with 261,578 cars and light trucks delivered, remains Chrysler’s highest-selling brand, as it was in 2011.

Jeep has closed the gap so far in 2012, with volume up 28.0% to 241,547, but the new Dart compact, which delivered 202 units in its first month in June, could push Dodge further ahead by the end of the year.

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