It may be the brand’s 75th anniversary, but for Jeep, well, it just can’t seem to help itself as a gift giver rather than gift receiver.
And parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was certainly happy to accept its June present.
Thanks to Jeep’s white-hot June sales from just about all its models, FC A overcame weak car results and roared to another record month. The automaker now has posted record sales gains the past 75 months.
“Strong Jeep sales fueled our best June in 11 years,” said Reid Bigland, FCA's senior vice president of sales, in a statement. “In spite of some severe stock market volatility in June, the American consumer stayed focus on buying new vehicles and propelled FCA to six vehicle sales records last month.”
Four of the six sales records in June were set by Jeep brand models. The Wrangler, Patriot, Compass and Renegade each posted their best June sales ever. The Jeep brand, overall, was up 17 percent over last year, thus logging its best June sales ever.
FCA saw a 7 percent sales increase compared to June 2015, selling 197,073 new cars and trucks for the month compared with 185,035 last June.
For Jeep, the Compass saw an incredible 128 percent sales gain for the month, followed by Renegade (99 percent), Patriot (24 percent), Grand Cherokee (9 percent) and Wrangler (5 percent). Only its Cherokee model, down 12 percent, failed to see a sales gain for Jeep.
The Jeep Wrangler sales increase was especially encouraging for FCA as the vehicle’s sales were down in May.
However, its car lines continued to underperform for FCA, falling a collective 40 percent against last June.
Sales of the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart, which FCA is attempting to outsource to another manufacturer, as well as the Fiat 500, all fell by more than 50 percent from a year ago. The Dodge Charger and Challenger, which had been treading water most of the year, both declined by about 20 percent.
FCA said it ended June with 613,273 unsold vehicles in inventory, an 81-day supply.
