Chrysler Sales Fall 8 Percent In January
February 2nd, 2010 5:17 PM
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Chrysler sales in January of 2009 were “Medusa class” ugly [down nearly 55 percent] in the always-apt words of one Robert Farago, which makes the Pentastar’s January 2010 sales [PDF release here] whatever 8 percent uglier than Medusa class is. The Chrysler brand was down 2 percent, with only the Sebring (+85%, 3,593) and Town & Country (+6%, 4,531) in the black. Jeep fell 8 percent despite growth in Compass (+52%, 1,244) and Grand Cherokee (+6%, 3,311) sales. Dodge was up one percent on strong growth from Avenger (+44%, 3,134), Journey (+55%, 4,790) and Caravan (+34%, 4,298), and the Ram brand fell 25 percent, with Ram pickup volume dropping below 10k units. Fugly? Heinous? Tragic? Pick the adjective you’re most comfortable with.
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@ Dan Count me in as one of the people that helped boost the sales of the Sebring by 85%. It's becasue of your "ban Chrysler" crap that I decided to check out the Sebring. I was suprised at how well it rides, drives, and is put together. Some of the interior plastics may not be the best, but I got the car so cheap that buying something else, becasue of "better plastic", was just not logical. The 3.5L is still a pretty good and peppy V6 for an out-going powertrain. The 6-speed auto feels good and, I'm sure, is part of the reason for my great gas mileage. I opted for the full leather (grey) interior, beautiful black paint, and chrome wheels. The car is sharp and does just great hauling my family around. Apparently, I'm not the only one that feels that way about the Sebring. Looks like your "Chrysler Ban" is working just fine, for you...
I remember USATODAY gave the Sebring a rave. This same critic said the Malibu was a mild disappointment. Well, here is the link of the infamous positive Sebring review. http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/reviews/healey/2006-11-30-sebring_x.htm
It does seem like Chyrysler can't possibly make it another year or two at this point. Their sales rate is like 650k units for the whole year now? Very low. Remember the good ole days in 2004, when Ford was selling nearly 1 million F150 trucks per year? @Roundel, keep in mind that GM and Chrysler took a lot of bailout money and are only on the hook to pay back a small portion of it. GM and GMAC took more than $60B, but are on the hook for $5B - the majority of the bailout funds got wiped away under Bad GM in the bankruptcy. So as taxpayers, we are not getting our money back. @Autojunkie, yes the Sebring sales are up, but you're still talking 3,600 units for the month. This is a mainstream car for Chrysler and should be selling 30,000 units per month if it's competing against the Accord...
The Allpar analysis pointed out that a chunk of these sales were likely to fleets. The Chryco corner of our local auto show was dismal, very few people looking. Could have just been the time I was there though.