Ram Carries FCA Load

FCA US saw overall volume drop as the automaker works to deliver new products to replace the cars and small CUVs disappearing from dealer lots.

Bob Gritzinger, Editor-in-Chief

May 2, 2017

2 Min Read
Ram pickups powered FCArsquos April sales
Ram pickups powered FCA’s April sales.

Ram pickup daily sales charged ahead 11.9% in April, helping FCA US mitigate a significant decline in Jeep deliveries and the continued loss of car sales amid the automaker’s ongoing effort to refocus its portfolio on strong-selling SUV and truck segments.

FCA US sales dipped 3.3% on a daily sales basis in April and 6.8% year-over-year in total volume to 174,829 deliveries, according to WardsAuto data. April had 26 selling days compared with 27 last year.

Car sales were down 20.5%, while light truck deliveries eked out a 0.2% increase. For the year, car volume has declined 26% with light trucks seeing a 4.5% drop.

The formerly strong Jeep brand was off 13.3% with 68,879 deliveries as the sell-down of outgoing Compass and Patriot models comes to an end and dealers await full inventory of the all-new ’17 Compass replacement. Compass deliveries cratered 60% while Patriot sales saw a 50.7% drop.

The Wrangler, due for replacement at year-end, posted a 3.9% uptick, while the Grand Cherokee gained 10.3%. Despite a strong market for small CUVs, the Cherokee was down 13.8% and Renegade declined 5.1%.

The Ram truck brand was up 9.5% on 45,980 deliveries, fueled by Ram light-duty pickups (+11.9%), offsetting declines by the ProMaster City (-26.1%) and ProMaster van (-0.5%). Dodge gained 1.2% on 39,445 deliveries, including strong performances by the Durango SUV (+22%) and Journey CUV (+78.7%).

Chrysler chipped in a 0.5% increase with 17,309 sales. The Pacifica minivan posted a 12% increase in April compared with the previous month on sales of 10,427 units, outselling the previous-generation Dodge Caravan by just 610.

Boutique brand Alfa Romeo showed progress with 677 sales in April, up from 553 in March.

The Fiat brand declined 14.9% with sales off for all models except the Mazda MX-5-based 124 Spider sports car, which accounted for 465 deliveries. The automaker reported a 19% hike in Maserati sales in April compared with year-ago.

[email protected] @bobgritzinger

About the Author

Bob Gritzinger

Editor-in-Chief, WardsAuto

Bob Gritzinger is Editor-in-Chief of WardsAuto and also covers Advanced Propulsion & Technology for Wards Intelligence.

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