West Coast Winner: 2013 Fiat 500

Thanks in large part to the 2013 Fiat 500 and a host of other new vehicles, the Chrysler Group was a Golden State gold medalist last year—as the fastest-growing automaker in the California in 2012. Not only did the company’s overall California sales volume jump by 50 percent last year, on the strength of 77,266 deliveries, but so did its retail sales. To put that performance into context, it was about twice the growth rate of California’s auto market as a whole. In addition, since the Chrysler Group opened its California Business Center in 2011, the company has increased its share of the state’s auto market by 2.3 percentage points and now holds a 5.8 percent share rating.

Leading the way for the Chrysler Group last year was the 2013 Fiat 500, which enjoyed a whopping 254 percent increase in retail sales in California last year and enabled Fiat’s recognition as the fastest-growing individual auto brand in the state. But it was far from alone in achieving West Coast success. In fact, all four of the automaker’s core brands also were able to increase retail deliveries by more than 35 percent in 2012: Dodge retail deliveries shot ahead by 37 percent, Jeep’s retail sales expanded by 37 percent, the Chrysler brand itself saw a 43 percent increase, and Ram Truck—backed by the 25-mpg Ram 1500 and its eight-speed automatic transmission—rang up a 47 percent improvement in retail sales in California in 2012.

“We had a strong year in 2012, as the California consumer continued to respond to our new and refreshed products,” said Jason Stoicevisch, director of the Chrysler Group’s California Business Center. “A combination of California-inspired models, unique California advertising, new dealers, healthier dealers and new, fuel-efficient models like the 41-mpg Dodge Dart have really resonated with consumers in the Golden State.”