Chrysler Sales Up 37 Percent, Still Short Of "Survival Volume"
Chryslers sales in October of last year amounted to a miserable 65,803 units, so the firm’s 37 percent year-over-year sales increase in October of 2010 is not really all that surprising. And despite the uptick, Chrysler is still coming up short of its monthly “ survival volume” sales goal of 95k units, coming in at just 90,137. A 79 percent increase in 300 sales (5,211 units) was the sole bright spot for the Chrysler brand last month (although T&C kept volume up with an 18 percent gain). Jeep’s new Grand Cherokee is heating up nicely, with volume hitting 12,721 units, and leading Jeep to a 111 percent increase. And the new JGC brought the whole Jeep brand up with it, as only Commander failed to record a sales increase (all other Jeep nameplates were up at least 46%). Dodge saw a slight three percent increase on the month, as low-volume nameplates gained large percentages for small volume increases, and bigger nameplates like Caravan (-8%) saw small percentage decreases. The Ram brand was up 37 percent, with volume at 18,090 units. But really, the big news here (other than the usual not-quite-enough-volume story) is the JGC and its apparent beneficial effects on the Jeep brand. Full press release here.
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The WK2 is pretty sweet and I'd like one in my Jeep collection. They did a nice job on it. I just hope the UAW won't again be a noose around Chrysler's neck?
I think Chrysler is just mopping up the entrails of the true "offroad" suv market. It seems a lot of car companies have pulled out of this category and so the choices are limited. Although it is smart of them to make the JGC upscale, kind of like a poor man's range rover.
According to Employee e-mail: Consumer Reports: Grand Cherokee tops Toyota 4Runner The redesigned Jeep® Grand Cherokee mid-size SUV earned a “very good” road-test score and outscored its traditional rival, the Toyota 4Runner, in a face off between the two vehicles, Consumer Reports magazine said in its December issue. The Jeep’s ride, quietness and interior won it points, the magazine said. “The Grand Cherokee is a big improvement over the previous model, with refinement on par with models that cost a lot more,” David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center in Connecticut, said.
I must say, the new Grand Cherokee is a handsome vehicle. We'll see how it's reliability holds up. I have some misgivings about Chrysler/Jeeps reliablity but that's based on rather old firsthand experiences. (I guess no Challenger convertible is in the cards. Then again, with convertibles typically gaining 2-300 pounds over their coupe companions, that's not surprising. A convertible would be a whale.)