Jeep, Ram Vans, Minivans Drove FCA’s U.S. Showroom Traffic in April

A record April for Jeep, powered by all-time high Renegade and Compass sales, plus a strong performance by the Ram brand helped temper a decline in FCA US sales overall, which gained 1.6% last month on a daily basis (one more selling day this year than last).

The results outperformed a WardsAuto forecast for the month, which projected a slight decline in daily sales for the automaker.

TrueCar reports FCA incentives, though down slightly from March, rose 25.1% from April 2015 levels, to $3,967 per vehicle. That jump outpaces the industry’s overall increase of 13.3%, to $3,021.

Notable in the month was the launch of the new Chrysler Pacifica minivan, which sold 487 units, alongside the model it ultimately replaces, the Town & Country, which saw deliveries jump 75.2% to 9,195. The outgoing Dodge Caravan also posted a strong month, with sales more than doubling to 13,203.

The strong Jeep and Ram performance reflects the unabated consumer demand for SUV/CUVs and pickups “and helped to propel us to our strongest April sales (on a volume basis) in 11 years,” says Reid Bigland, senior vice president-sales for FCA in North America.

In total, FCA delivered 198,177 vehicles, a volume gain of 5.5% compared with year-ago’s 187,881, according to WardsAuto data. Cars and MPVs were down 8% in volume, while utility vehicles rose 13% and trucks gained 12%, the automaker says.

Following this year’s story line, sales of FCA’s now-doomed small cars, the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200, to be phased out next year, plunged 50.7% and 61.2%, respectively. The Fiat brand also continues to founder, with overall sales off 21.9% daily, despite the injection of 1,094 units from the brand’s newest model, the 500X.

Like Fiat, the Chrysler and Dodge brands also are struggling. Even with the strong minivan performance and a 41.1% gain in 300 fullsize, rear-drive sedan sales, Chrysler overall saw daily deliveries slide 20.6%, as those models failed to make up for the drop in 200 midsize-sedan volume.

With the exception of the Caravan and Durango SUV, all other Dodges suffered declines, with overall sales for the brand falling 6.6% daily, according to WardsAuto data.

Jeep sales led the way for the automaker, rising 13.1% daily, though declining from year-ago were the Cherokee (down 10.8%) and Wrangler (off 2.9%). Renegade sales soared 122.3% to 9,730 and Compass deliveries spiked 120.0% to 9,421.

Ram sales, rising 7.5% daily, were up across the board, except for the outgoing Cargo Van model, with the commercially targeted ProMaster (+54.8%) and ProMaster City (+81.6%) recording their best Aprils ever.

FCA ended April with an 84-day supply of inventory on 619,800 units.

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