Jeep, Ram Again Pick Up Slack for FCA

The redesigned Jeep Compass is more than making up for lost volume of its discontinued platform mate, the Patriot, and Ram brand had its best August ever as FCA US reports its monthly sales results today.

Overall, Fiat Chrysler sold 192,071 vehicles in August, up 9.9% over August 2017, according to Wards Intelligence data. Both months had 27 selling days. Year-to-date, the automaker has delivered 1,469,648 vehicles, up 5.5% from 2017.

Jeep and Ram continue paying the bills for FCA US. Jeep found 87,502 customers in August, up 19.6% from like-2017, with the redesigned Wrangler up 20% (20,168 units) and Cherokee up 85% (21,978 units). Sales of Grand Cherokee and Renegade were off 14.8% and 0.6%, respectively.

But the new Compass is having a good year. Its sales were up 75.6% in August to 16,339 units, achieving a year-to-date total of 116,149 deliveries. A year ago, when both the Patriot and previous-generation Compass were nearing the end of their production runs, sales for the two totaled 79,511.

With the all-new Ram fullsize pickup in the market, the truck brand delivered 53,161 vehicles in August, up 26.3%, with most of that volume coming from the Ram pickup. FCA says it was the highest month of sales for the light-duty truck ever since the Ram brand was launched. The previous record was in May 2018 when sales reached 33,060.

“Our August results highlight how the all-new Ram light duty is coming into its own,” Reid Bigland, head of U.S. Sales, says in a press release. “Ram light-duty total sales rose 55% to 36,798 vehicles for the month.”

Rounding out the Ram portfolio, the lower-volume ProMaster large van and smaller city van were down 16.5% and 5.2%, respectively, from August 2017. Year-to-date, Ram has sold 349,698 vehicles, down slightly from like-2017, according to Wards Intelligence data.

The Chrysler and Dodge brands continue foundering, posting respective sales of 12,219 units (down 3.4% from like-2017) and 35,575 (down 18.4%). Pacifica minivan deliveries were up 20.3% to 9,167 vehicles.

At Dodge, the most popular vehicle is the outdated, previous-generation Caravan, down 23.8% to 13,039, and the Journey, up 27.9% to 7,243 August deliveries.

Year-to-date, Chrysler sales were down 12.2% to 112,473 units, while Dodge was down 5.4% to 317,627.

Alfa Romeo continues growing its U.S. volume with the Giulia sedan and popular new Stelvio CUV, which has found 8,180 customers so far this year.

Fiat brand deliveries were down 35.2% in August to 1,374 vehicles, for a year-to-date total of 10,899, off 42.8% from like-2017. In August, Fiat’s most popular vehicle was the 500, with August sales down 39.9% to 563 units.