Two months. Two records.
That’s just what the Jeep Wrangler seems to do these days. Plow over old, sometimes disappointing sales numbers on the way to loftier new heights.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Tuesday announced new Wrangler sales jumped 58 percent in April, marking the vehicle’s best monthly performance ever and second straight month of record gains.
And as a result, it helped push FCA past industry expectations as the automaker posted a 5 percent year-over-year sales growth for April.
Most experts pegged FCA to drop between 1-4 percent.
“Jeep is back in the game,” Autotrader executive analyst Michelle Krebs said in a press release. “The brand’s painful transition of its products in 2017 is paying off big time this year, with the Jeep Wrangler – setting a monthly sales record – leading the charge.”
FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne announced back in 2016 that the company would discontinue most of its passenger car line in order to focus on higher profit SUV and truck vehicles. This caused over a year long slump in total sales as those cars were phased out, but now it appears to be over as back-to-back strong months have propelled FCA into positive territory for 2018.
In all, Wrangler sold 29,776 vehicles during the month as more and more 2018 Wrangler JL vehicles reached dealer lots. While FCA does not break Wrangler numbers down into specific model types, this recent sales success implies the next generation JL Wrangler is definitely a customer favorite. Not to mention a profitable one for FCA as well.
Wrangler now has sold just over 85k vehicles this year – against 60k at this point last year – and now finds itself second among all FCA vehicles in 2018 units sold.
The Jeep brand itself also has a superb month for FCA, jumping 20 percent against April 2017 numbers. Besides Wrangler, the new Compass model continued to impress as it increased a staggering 227 percent with 11,521 vehicles sold. Cherokee finished in positive numbers as well, with a 20 percent increase vs. last April.
Providing somewhat of a disappointment in April, once again, was the Grand Cherokee model, which faltered 12 percent and is now starting to become recurring theme for FCA. The high-profit Grand Cherokee had been a successful performer in FCA’s stable even when the company posted month after month of sales declines. Renegade also lost some momentum during the month, dropping 10 percent.
Overall, FCA sold 184,149 vehicles in April and the month pushed the automaker into positive sales territory for 2018 – up 2 percent.
