Chrysler Surprises With Better Than Expected August

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Forecasters predicted that August sales numbers, published today, will be strong. Chrysler opened today’s barrage of sales numbers with much better than expected results.


Chrysler Group’s August sales are up 14 percent, boosted by strong Chrysler brand sales (up 25 percent) and healthy Ram Truck brand sales (up 18 percent). Kelley and Truecar expected less than 10 percent. So did, on average, the analysts polled by Bloomberg.

Said Reid Bigland, chief of Dodge and Head of U.S. Sales of Chrysler:

“Our Iron Man streak continued last month as we posted our 29th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales growth,” “Our hard work over the past few years is starting to pay some dividends in our sales growth, quality awards and profitability. Not to mention, an incredibly resilient U.S. new vehicle sales industry doesn’t hurt either.”

We will keep our eyes on today’s sales data. Please check back with us during the day.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Gentle Ted Gentle Ted on Sep 04, 2012

    One thing everyone should be concerned about is Chrysler bringing in a 8 speed Transmission! I think the cost of the Repair would be very high, almost cheaper to buy a New Vehicle maybe?

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    • INeon INeon on Sep 04, 2012

      @Zackman There's a 3.2l Pentastar launching next year.

  • Billfrombuckhead Billfrombuckhead on Sep 04, 2012

    Mopar is just getting started. Expect a huge increase when the best in class 2013 Ram truck kicks in.

  • Nickoo Nickoo on Sep 04, 2012

    Good to see their sales numbers improving. The mopar brand still has some holes in it's lineup that need filled, it will be interesting to see their avenger/200 replacement as the dart seems to be a bit of a let-down.

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    • Wheeljack Wheeljack on Sep 04, 2012

      @Lorenzo Unfortunately inline sixes are a dead end due to packaging issues (length). It's too bad too since I own 2 vehicles with inline sixes and love their linear power delivery.

  • Wheeljack Wheeljack on Sep 04, 2012

    I notice how we don't hear much out of the Chrysler haters anymore who were predicting the demise of the company just a few short years ago and how they would never sustain the required sales per month to make it. About all people can seem to drag out these days are stories of early Ultradrive transmission failures (Let's not forget that trans launched over TWENTY years ago - Ford's E4OD in the F-series was just as bad if not worse from around the same era, yet no one mentions it) or late '90's ex-rental or ex-lease Intrepids that had a sludged 2.7L (gee, it's not like Toyota or VAG had the same problem - yeah right...plus we all know how well lease and rental cars are cared for). I say good for Chrysler. It's nice to have some choices out there that offer a good value for the money.

    • Lilpoindexter Lilpoindexter on Sep 04, 2012

      The younger Neidermeyer was a big Chrysler hater...I'd love to hear his thoughts on the current state of Chrysler sales...but I can't help to think the next Chrysler Defibrillation is just around the corner.

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