Finally, Chrysler Pacifica Sales Took Off In September 2016

Transitioning from one model to the next isn’t always a straightforward task for automakers. Forecasting and assembling the outgoing model before retooling for the incoming model is not an exact science.

For the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler’s replacement for the Town & Country minivan, the task was not made any easier by the presence of a value-oriented competing model inside Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ own fold. Through the first three-quarters of 2016, the Dodge Grand Caravan has set a pace that may end with the best calendar year of sales since 2012, if not 2007.

The Grand Caravan’s position atop the minivan leaderboard and the large number of Chrysler Town & Countrys that needed to be cleared out created uninspiring Pacifica sales numbers for the first few months of its life-cycle.

But Pacifica sales last month were 23-percent higher than in August, and the Chrysler Pacifica very nearly became America’s best-selling minivan in September 2016.

Only a matter of time?

Overall, September 2016 was a disappointing month for minivan sales in America. After rising 23 percent through the first seven months of the year — strengthened by a comparison with early 2015, when FCA’s Windsor, Ontario, minivan plant was shutdown — minivan sales dipped slightly in August and then fell 9 percent in September.

With only 39,818 sales, September represented the lowest-volume month for minivan sales since January. The sector’s share of the overall industry slid from 3.0 percent in September 2015 to 2.8 percent in August 2016. At the end of the current model’s term, Honda Odyssey volume fell 10 percent. Nissan’s oft-ignored Quest plunged by more than two-thirds. The Kia Sedona stood out with a modest 0.4-percent uptick, but September’s top-selling Toyota Sienna took a 12-percent dive.

Overall, with combined Pacifica/Town & Country volume up 10 percent and nearly 8,200 extra sales from the Grand Caravan, FCA’s share of the minivan market grew to 46 percent from 44 percent a year ago.

Year-to-date, 45 percent of the minivans sold in the United States have been Chrysler and Dodge products, a massive increase from 34 percent in 2015 when, again, FCA minivan sales had plunged because of factory retooling.

As for the Pacifica on its own, the top-ranked Sienna was only 97 sales ahead of the Chrysler by September’s end. (The Pacifica trailed the leading Dodge Grand Caravan by 3,113 units in August; the Sienna by 2,823 sales.)

Since its end-of-April launch, 35,572 Chrysler Pacificas have reached American driveways. With the 200 sedan dying and no replacement in sight, the Pacifica is a hugely important fixture in the Chrysler lineup. 54 percent of Chrysler brand sales were produced by minivans in September, up from 36 percent a year ago.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.