FCA Sales Decline 10% in September Amidst Changing Vehicle Lineups
The changing landscape of FCA's vehicle offerings has created unique challenges for the company's sales
September was a pretty good sales month for FCA’s rivals GM and Ford, both of which experienced overall sales increases. Of course, FCA’s current strategy is a bit different than Ford’s or GM’s, with FCA eliminating many underperforming models, so the results are a bit different as well. At the end of September, FCA experienced an overall 10% sales decline in the U.S. market.
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Over the course of the month, FCA sold a total of 174,266 vehicles. A good portion of the vehicle sold belonged to the Ram and Jeep brands. Ram sales were only down by less than 200 units. Overall, FCA sold 51,686 Ram vehicles last month.
Meanwhile, Jeep sales started to recover after consecutive months of large sales losses. While Jeep sales were down by 4%, this is only a slight decline for the brand compared to the rest of the year.
The Jeep Cherokee and Patriot were the only Jeeps to report sales losses last month. In fact, Jeep Compass sales were up 75% year-over-year.
With Chrysler eliminating both the Town and Country and 200 models from its lineup, declining sales are to be expected. Still, the Chrysler Pacifica seems to be performing well, with 10,835 units sold in September.
FCA’s decision to reduce fleet sales has resulted in sales declines for the Dodge brand. Dodge sales were down by 30% last month, with 29,938 vehicles sold.
Some of the hype for the Dodge Demon has seemed to have died down. While its release helped the Challenger to outperform its Mustang and Camaro rivals in August, Challenger sales were down by 16% in September.
The release of the Pacifica also seems to be stealing customers away from the Dodge Grand Caravan. The Dodge-branded minivan’s sales were down by 62% last month.
Of course, in a market where SUVs reign supreme, the Dodge Durango is doing quite well. Durango sales totaled 6,207 units in September, a 45% sales increase compared to the sales from September of last year.
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Finally, the return of Alfa Romeo to the U.S. seems to be boosting sales a small bit for FCA. Giulia sales during the first three quarters of the year came in at 6,410 units.
FCA’s overall sales performance during the first three quarters of 2017 is down by 8%. The automaker has sold 1,579,138 vehicles year-to-date.
You can examine how every vehicle in the FCA library did in the chart listed below:
FCA September 2017 Sales
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