Fiat Gains Ground in Domestic-Brand Stronghold of Chicago

CHICAGO – Though historically a domestic vehicle stronghold, the car brand enjoying the most success in the first quarter of the year in Chicagoland was Fiat, with sales rising 85% over year-ago.

Domestic nameplates captured the next two top sales spots, with Ram trucks scoring the second highest sales gain (61%) and Dodge cars third highest (53%) for the period.

Mazda, up 44%, and Acura, with a 41% increase, rounded out the top five sales gainers in January-March, Chicago Automobile Trade Assn. says.

On the other end of the scale, Smart was the big loser, with sales off 55% in the quarter. Others posting declines were Mini (15%), Kia (12%), Lincoln (9%) and Volvo (4%). Suzuki, which is exiting the U.S. market, posted a 50% drop.

Thanks, in part to the gains by Fiat, subcompact car sales performed best, picking up more than a point in market share for the quarter. SUV was the segment with the biggest decline, losing 0.8 points in share.