Chrysler Sales Tumble 42 Percent in June

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

But, like Ford, Chrysler is talking retail. As in Chrysler increased “retail market share more than 1 percentage point compared with June 2008.” Actually retail sales declined 16 percent, and combined with a 95 percent drop in fleet sales (despite selling nearly 3k vehicles to the feds in a single go), Chrysler’s overall sales are down 42 percent compared to June 2008. When sales were off 36 percent year-on-year. Talk about bad to worse.

The only good news? Chrysler has managed to control its inventories. With only a 71-day supply of vehicles, ChryCo dealer lots are 56 percent less crowded than they were a year ago. But that’s as good as it gets.

PT Cruiser and Sebring were down 82 and 66 percent respectively. Both (theoretically) mass-market nameplates are currently selling under 2,000 units per month. In fact, Town & Country is the only Chrysler-badged vehicle with sales over 2k units. Of course it’s slumping as well, down 27 percent at 7,187.

Jeep results are usually buoyed by the Wrangler, which had a better 2008 than just about any Chrysler model. But sunny days aren’t keeping the Wrangler moving; its sales declined 28 percent to 4,810. Compass, Patriot, Commander and Grand Cherokee all saw year-on-year drops in the 40-70 percent range, while the Liberty stayed relatively strong at 3,815 units sold.

Things are even worse for the Dodge brand. Take out the Challenger (+35 percent, 1,369 units), Ram (-10 percent) and Journey (-26 percent) and there’s not a single nameplate that declined less than 42 percent. Selling 369 Durangos a month is no way to emerge from bankruptcy. But with several nameplates selling over 2,000 units per month, at least Dodge is beating Chrysler’s eponymous badge.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Derm81 Derm81 on Jul 01, 2009

    Is it true that Chrysler has to sell only 900,000 units in NA to "break even" in the future? Some talking head (might have been from DetNews) said that Chrysler has cut so far to the bone that they need to sell only under a mil to break even. Anecdotal, I mknow but what is this all about?

  • Whynotaztec Whynotaztec on Jul 01, 2009

    Well jeez if they had a few Challengers on the lots the numbers might have looked a little better. Just about impossible to find one in the Boston area.

  • Dan Dan on Jul 01, 2009

    It's only a matter of time until Chrysler goes bankrupt again. Charger sales down 58% and 300 sales down 36% with only the challenger up with a total of 1,369 vs 1024 WOW big deal. Also Chrysler had HUGE DISCOUNTS and sales still CRASHED 42%. It's like people are really boycotting chrysler products as i've hear of calls to boycott chrysler. Bought one chrysler and will never buy another. You were here blind cheerleading from chrysler workers who live in a dream world as chrysler will go bankrupt again it's only a matter of time. Can't wait.

  • Crc Crc on Jul 02, 2009

    Prices seem to be up at my local DCJ dealership. I visited yesterday and saw the exact model Jeep I bought in January only it was about $3k more expensive than when I purchased.

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