Two Minivans, Two Jeeps, Drive FCA May Sales

Two minivans – one old and one new – along with continuing robust demand for Jeeps pushed FCA North America May daily sales up nearly 10% year-over-year, propelling the automaker to its best light-vehicle result for the month since 2005, WardsAuto data shows.

The carryover Dodge Grand Caravan minivan jumped 91% with 11,135 sales in May while the all-new ’17 Chrysler Pacifica minivan recorded 2,495 sales during its first full month on the market since its introduction in April. Chrysler also sold 8,583 Town & Country minivans, a 62% increase for the model that Pacifica replaces. The month had 24 selling days, two fewer than May 2015.

“Notwithstanding a challenging calendar, we managed to muscle our way to our strongest May sales in over 10 years,” says Reid Bigland, FCA NA senior vice president-sales. “Initial sales of our all-new Chrysler Pacifica minivan are brisk and we expect further sales growth from this vehicle over the next few months as dealer inventory continues to build.”

Jeep-branded vehicles continued their torrid pace led by two more bookend vehicles, the Renegade – Jeep’s freshest model – and the long-in-the-tooth Patriot/Compass pair. Renegade skyrocketed 167% and Compass soared 134% while Patriot posted a more down-to-earth 29% gain, offsetting a 5% decline in Wrangler sales. Cherokee grew 6% and Grand Cherokee climbed 12% for the month.

Overall, Jeep saw a 23% daily sales increase for the month, its 32^nd consecutive month of year-over-year sales growth.

Ram brand sales were up 8%, fueled by a 117% increase in ProMaster City small cargo van deliveries, a 26% uptick in ProMaster sales and a 5% gain in Ram pickups. Chrysler and Fiat each were down 12% while Dodge dropped just 2.5% on a daily sales basis.

[email protected] @bobgritzinger