by Matt Konkle
Torque Editor-in-Chief
In a red-hot automotive market, Stellantis and its Jeep brand seemed to burn brightest of all over the past three months.
Stellantis on Thursday announced its 2021 second quarter sales jumped 32 percent over the same time period last year, with Jeep delivering the second best, second quarter in its history at 19 percent growth and Wrangler posting its best ever quarter for U.S. sales.
All this, despite some sales constraints due to global microchip shortages.
“The recovering U.S. economy and continued strong demand for our products drove unprecedented results,” Stellantis U.S. Head of Sales Jeff Kommor said. “We continue to work closely with our suppliers to mitigate the manufacturing impacts caused by the various supply chain issues facing our industry.”
Powering Jeep to its record-setting performance was Wrangler, which saw a 29 percent increase in sales — moving 69,020 vehicles in the second quarter. Part of that was the new Wrangler 4xe, which Jeep said is already the best-selling plug-in hybrid in the marketplace.
Gladiator also helped spark Jeep to second-quarter success as the vehicle soared a brand-leading 53 percent over last year and saw 29,962 sold during the past three months. Gladiator also finished as the quarter’s third-best selling vehicle in Jeep’s stable.
Cherokee (up 26 percent), Renegade (up 20 percent) and Grand Cherokee (up 14 percent) all helped Jeep as well. In fact, only Compass saw a sales decline for the entire brand.
In all, Jeep moved 210,439 vehicles for the second quarter with Wrangler leading the way, followed by Grand Cherokee (52,726), Gladiator, Cherokee (29,235) and Renegade (15,297).
For the year, Jeep is now up 14 percent over 2020 with 407,984 vehicles sold — including Wrangler (118,666), Grand Cherokee (107,924) and Gladiator (48,784). Overall, Stellantis has seen 17 percent growth for 2021 and has nearly sold a million vehicles (954,963) the year.
Ram reported the highest quarterly increase among all Stellantis brands, up 47 percent, while Chrysler (up 36 percent); Dodge (up 42 percent) and Alfa Romeo (up 34 percent) also provided strength. The company did not report sales numbers for Maserati.
Stellantis said Fiat dropped 33 percent to 891 vehicles during the quarter, but the decline was not particularly surprising because the brand’s presence has been steadily shrinking in the United States.
The automaker said its retail sales, which often are the company’s most profitable, rose 27% for the quarter while fleet made up 12% of total sales.
A year ago, then Jeep owner Fiat Chrysler reported a 39 percent drop in its total U.S. sales compared with 2019 as the automaker grappled with production shutdowns and consumers faced COVID-19 lockdowns.
