Jeep Jumps Out of Fleet Sales

FCA US sales took a double-digit hit in August as a pullback from fleet sales dragged down light-truck volume amid continued declines in car sales.

The Italian-American automaker delivered 174,830 vehicles for the month, down 13.9% from a year ago on a daily-sales basis. Cars were off 19%, while light trucks fell 13%. There were 27 selling days in August, one more than last year.

FCA reports retail sales were off 7% year-over-year, representing 80% of sales, but fleet sales plummeted 23%. The company says the fleet reduction was part of a deliberate strategy to cut daily rental sales, with Jeep alone seeing a 66% decrease in fleet deliveries. Overall, Jeep daily sales were off 18.5%, despite a 23.3% increase in Grand Cherokee deliveries and a 10% uptick for Wrangler.

The Chrysler brand declined 35.1% to 12,652 sales, with the 300 sedan and the Pacifica minivan as its only remaining volume models.

The Challenger (+14.4%), Charger (+7.0%) and outgoing Caravan minivan (+55.8%) were the bright spots for the Dodge brand, which was down 5.3%. Ram Promaster (+39.4%) and Promaster City (+10%) offset a 10.1% loss of Ram pickup sales, leaving the brand down 6.0%.

Fiat was off 25.4% while Alfa Romeo was working to grow sales of its all-new Giulia sedan and Stelvio CUV models, with 916 and 203 deliveries, respectively, in August.

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