Chrysler July Sales Rise Five Percent, Remain Below 95k "Survival Volume"
Set the way-back machine to our July 2009 Chrysler Group sales post, and a certain amount of deja-vu might just set in. Last Summer, Chrysler’s version of success was a mere single-digit percentage volume decline. This July, Chrysler’s big accomplishment was a five percent improvement over last July’s number. Last July we thought the Chrysler brand in particular was “toast,” and based on this July’s numbers, we can’t say we’ve found much to change that opinion, as ChryCo’s eponymous brand dropped 11 percent year-over-year, and shed over 3k units of volume compared to June. Chrysler Town & Country outsold the rest of the brand alone at 8,083 units, an 18 percent gain.
Meanwhile, ChryCo’s other “volume brand” Dodge literally sold one more car than it did in last year’s Cash-for-Clunker-fueled July. Yes, Jeep and Ram are growing compared to last month and last July, but together they combine for fewer than 50k units. And all told, Chrysler Group once again combined for fewer than 95k units, selling only 93,313. If you average Chrysler’s 620,532 year-to-date sales over the last seven months, you find that the bailed-out automaker is running about 6,500 units per month behind the volume number that its CEO gave as a “survival number.” CEO Sergio Marchionne may have “never missed a target” but right now he’s on track to come up a solid 37k units short of his 1.1m 2010 sales goal (non-seasonally-adjusted). Considering the razor-thing margin for that 2010 volume target, Chrysler’s turnaround plan needs a turnaround plan. Fast.
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Moparman426W: According to what I read, the dealers don't like "Nassau" and Chrysler has decided that it will cost too much to launch a new nameplate into the marketplace. So Sebring it is! Actually, other than the current hideous iteration, past Sebrings were OK looking, remember Sebring convertible was the best selling convertible in the good ol USA, before the Germans hit it with the ugly stick.
mjz, thanks for filling me in. didn't know that they decided to keep the nameplate. It used to actually sound kinda cool. But after the last sebring, and all of the negative things said about it in the press now when I read or hear the name it's kinda the same as hearing the word "edsel." I think it would be cool to bring back the "cordoba" nameplate. I do remember the sebring as being the best selling ragtop during the late 90's. I thought they were actually pretty good looking cars, despite the fact that they all seemed to be white.