Fiat Chrysler sales rose 1.9%, as record deliveries of its Ram truck brand in May and brisk demand for Dodge products overcame uncharacteristically weak consumer pull for its stable of Jeep crossovers and SUVs.
FCA sold 217,146 light vehicles in the U.S. last month, compared with 213,142 in the same period last year, according to Wards Intelligence. There were 26 selling days in May, same as last year.
“On a year-over-year basis, we have increased our average transaction prices by more than $3,000 a vehicle and still managed some notable sales increases," says Reid Bigland, head of U.S. sales at FCA.
“In its first full month on sale, our all-new Jeep Gladiator pickup truck delivered more than 2,500 vehicle sales, our Ram pickup truck sales soared 33 percent and the Jeep Grand Cherokee delivered its best May sales ever,” he says in a statement detailing the results.
The Italian-American automaker sold 65,561 Ram pickups and vans, up 29.2% compared with year-ago. FCA delivered 197,866 light trucks in the month, compared with 19,280 cars.
Dodge sales rose 2.5% to 47,759 units from 46,581 last year on the strength of a spike in Charger sedan deliveries of 9,296 units, up 35.3%. Sales of the Caravan minivan grew 8.5% to 16,809 units from 15,487, and deliveries of the Durango SUV jumped 32.8% to 8,263 copies from 6,222.
Jeep sales retreated 7.2% to 90,326 units from 97,286 in the same period last year, despite a best-ever May for the Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV, up 18.1% to 25,394 units from 21,494 year-ago. The Gladiator midsize pickup accounted for 2,584 sales in the month.
Chrysler brand sales tumbled 26% to 10,903 units from 14,724 last year, largely on a 26.2% decline in demand for the Pacifica minivan to 8,232 units from 11,151.
Sales of Alfa Romeo vehicles fell 33.9% to 1,572 units from 2,377 in the same period last year, while Fiat brand sales slipped 28.9% to 1,025 units from 1,441.
So far this year, FCA sales were down 2.6% to 884,334 units from 907,587. Fleet sales represented 31% of the automaker’s sales last month and 22% for the first five months of 2019.
