Buoyed by strong performances from Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Thursday reported overall May sales fell just 1 percent against May 2016 and nearly ended the company’s current eight month sales slide. Even with the slight decline, the performance was FCA’s best so far this year.
The automaker's retail sales were actually up 1 percent for the month over last year, while fleet sales – a segment the company has targeted for reduction in favor of retail – decreased 7 percent. May's performance also beat industry forecasts which believed FCA would slip around 4 percent for the month.
Grand Cherokee continued to pace the entire Jeep lineup with sales jumping 14 percent against last year, easily maintaining its place as FCA’s second most sold vehicle behind the Dodge Ram truck. Meanwhile, Wrangler’s 2 percent May sales increase was especially encouraging for FCA and it marked the fourth time in five months the vehicle has outperformed last year. And all this with the looming Wrangler redesign scheduled to launch by the end of this year. Though sales did slip in March, Wrangler now heads into its prime summer selling season at almost the same sales number year-over-year as 2016.
However, the entire Jeep brand fell 15 percent in May and continues to be plagued by the same headwinds that are hurting FCA as well; namely sharply declining sales figures by discontinued products. For Jeep, that means the old generation Compass and Patriot which fell 43 and 53 percent respectively. Some relief is on the horizon for Compass though, as more and more of the next generation vehicle reach dealer lots.
Another difficult problem for Jeep is the ongoing soft performance by Cherokee. While the vehicle does stand as the line’s fourth-best seller, its sales have fallen every month this year and now are off 18 percent year-over-year. Also of note, Renegade continued to disappoint with its third-straight monthly decline. Following a strong start to 2017, the vehicle now sits relatively flat year-over-year with just a 1 percent increase.
Overall FCA recorded 193,040 vehicles sold in May, with 152,227 units (79 percent) under the retail sales umbrella. The Ram Truck and Dodge brands each posted the largest year-over-year sales increases in May, with Ram up 18 percent and Dodge up 8 percent.
The company has now posted declines in nine straight months since reporting a 3 percent increase in August 2016.
