Company Scores Best January Results in Five Years
It’s yet another month of volume gains for the Chrysler Group, which lifted deliveries by a further 16 percent in January and sold 117,731 vehicles. Yes, the Jeep division did endure a slight decline in sales last month—with deliveries down 4 percent—but the company’s other four brands all finished January with advances of more than 10 percent: Dodge was the big winner, with a 37 percent jump in sales, followed closely by Fiat (+31 percent), and then Chrysler (up 18 percent) and Ram (moving ahead by 14 percent).
The company also saw five vehicles set January sales records, including the 2013 FIAT 500, 2013 Chrysler 200, 2013 Dodge Charger, 2013 Dodge Challenger and the 2013 Dodge Journey—with the latter vehicle claiming its highest monthly sales total ever.
“It’s been a good week for the Chrysler Group. On Wednesday we announced full year 2012 profits of $1.7 billion and followed that today with our January sales, up 16 percent, marking our 34th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales growth,” said Reid Bigland, head of U.S. Sales for the automaker. “Entering 2013 our product portfolio has never been stronger with our new Ram truck picking up both the 2013 Motor Trend and the North American ‘Truck of the Year’ awards, and the introduction of our new 30 mpg highway Jeep Grand Cherokee equipped with our new EcoDiesel engine.”
January Auto Sales: Chrysler Group Fields Five Record Breakers Although some worried the Chrysler Group’s mojo was beginning to wear off by the end of last year, the company’s renaissance continued last month thanks in large part to five products that achieved new benchmarks for January sales:
- 2013 Fiat 500—As customers prepare for the coming launch of the 2014 Fiat 500L, the reborn original—now available with a choice of three different powerplants—set a January sales record with 2,503 deliveries that represented sales growth of 31 percent.
- 2013 Chrysler 200—The 200 was one of the first vehicles to achieve the new Top Safety Pick+ designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), providing another reason why the car was good for a record 8,846 January sales—complemented by a 26 percent jump in volume.
- 2013 Dodge Avenger—Joining its Chrysler sibling in the Top Safety Pick+ club, the Avenger also joined the 200 in setting a new sales milestone for the month of January. The tale of the tape: 9,628 units delivered and a 69 percent improvement in sales.
- 2013 Dodge Challenger—The Dodge brand’s modern-day muscle car recently claimed its second consecutive “Shopper’s Choice” award from Cars.com, and the Challenger then became the choice of 3,497 customers in January after tallying a 69 percent sales boost.
- 2013 Dodge Journey—The high-value choice in the full-size crossover segment, the Journey extended its streak of eight straight monthly sales records by setting an all-time volume benchmark in January. With sales rocketing ahead by 94 percent last month, Journey sales climbed to 8,179 units.
Also notable for their January success—but not breaking sales records—were the 2013 Jeep Patriot and 2013 Jeep Compass. The Compass caught 33 percent more customers last month than in January of 2012, earning 3,116 sales, and that just edged the performance of the Patriot, whose 5,248 sales were 32 percent higher than in the same period last year.
