May Sales: Chrysler Up 11 Percent
Chrysler sets the tone for a most likely very happy sales day, reporting an 11 percent increase in its May U.S. light vehicle sales to Reuters.
Ram sales rose 24 percent, they were up 23 percent at Dodge, 1 percent at Jeep and Fiat. Chrysler brand sales dropped 2 percent.
Analysts expect the market to be up by 6 to 8 percent. Follow us throughout sales day today to find out whether the analysts guessed right.
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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Analyst Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics said the company needed to increase consumer awareness that the Dart is a viable small car after it spent years producing the poor-quality Caliber. "They launched the Dart without saying it was a small car," Hall said. "They sold the image but not the car." I tend to agree with this analysis of the Dart. The awareness just isn't there among small car buyers. It's nowhere close to being a cross-shopped, household name like Civic, Corolla, Focus or even Cruze yet. If Dodge could get those shoppers on the lot in the first place, they would be selling a lot more Darts as I find that car to be much preferable to the above mentioned 4.
I drive a 1.8 auto 2012 Civic every day. It's a dog and not particularly comfortable. I've sat in a few Darts and really like them. However, I too have been waiting for the 2.4 GT. So far, the only GT they've made available is that (in my opinion) ugly Mopar edition. I'll keep waiting until they make either a GT or R/T available with the 2.4. Or, maybe, an SRT-4. There's really nothing else in the class on the market in the U.S. I like.
I sat in a Dart, but the moment I saw my leg was resting on the center console I knew this wasn't going to be a car for me.
Chrysler Co also sold the low quality Neon for years, and that drove shoppers away too. Caliber is not even a known product to average buyers. It's just years of making junk compacts