Big Cars Boost FCA August Sales

FCA US posts a 3% gain in August to 195,349 units as Jeep, Dodge and Ram brand sales offset continuing downward spirals for Chrysler, Fiat and Alfa Romeo and a 25.4% decline in car sales to 28,188 for the month, WardsAuto data shows.

FCA sold 167,161 light trucks in August, up 10.1% vs. year-ago, as the Italian-American automaker’s portfolio continues to skew heavily toward trucks and utility vehicles. Car-segment anomalies were the Chrysler 300 full-size sedan, up 21.6%, and its Dodge sibling Charger, up 23.7%. The Dodge Challenger also was up 4.9%. Both August 2016 and 2015 had 26 selling days.

Fleet sales surged nearly 88% to 46,603 units compared with July, representing 24% of FCA sales. Retail sales stayed fairly steady at 150,153, down from July’s 155,885.

Jeep stayed steady as FCA’s sales leader, chalking up an 11.9% increase on sales of 86,468 vehicles, led by Cherokee (40.7%), Compass (28.7%), Grand Cherokee (11.7%) and Patriot (10.3%). Wrangler sales continued to decline, dipping another 16.3% in August following a 5.5% decline in July.
Ram posted a small 1.3% increase, powered by a 31.6% jump in ProMaster City sales and a 25% increase for ProMaster vans. Ram pickup sales were off 0.8%.

Dodge-brand sales revived in August, up 5.1% on the strength of the aforementioned cars as well as the Journey CUV (40.5%). The Dart small car continued to plummet, with sales off 54.3%.

The all-new Pacifica minivan is Chrysler’s bright spot with 7,459 deliveries for the month following a July in which Pacifica recorded 7,911 sales. Both the 200 small car (-66.4) and the outgoing Town & Country minivan (-75.1%) accounted for the brand’s 22.3% decline for the month.
Fiat sales were off across the board except for the new Mazda-based Spider roadster, which sold 460 units. Otherwise, the brand was off 21.4% on sales of 2,732 vehicles.
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