Despite FCA's Clear-Out Effort, The Chrysler 200 Still Isn't Selling

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

Significant incentives did not alter the Chrysler 200’s dreadful U.S. trendline in April 2016.

As the decrease in demand for the 200 became more obvious, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles temporarily shut down the midsize Chrysler’s Sterling Heights factory in order to clear out excess inventory. But 200 demand continued to decrease, and FCA was forced into laying off workers at the Sterling Heights plant while ramping up incentives on the 200. So dreadful is the 200’s marketplace performance that FCA has no desire to develop their next midsize car.

Heading into April, inventory levels remained high. Enticing deals were thick on the ground. But apparently, those deals weren’t so enticing after all, even as TTAC published a positive rental review of the four-cylinder Chrysler 200 at the tail end of April, just as consumers headed into showrooms to capture the best deals of the month.

Year-over-year, Chrysler 200 volume tumbled 63 percent in the first-quarter of 2016. As of April 1, Automotive News estimated that there were 53,000 200s in stock at U.S. Chrysler outlets. Surely, advertised discounts of $4,500 would be more than sufficient to clear out a chunk of that inventory as spring sprung, particularly since many dealers were offering far more impressive offers.

Sub-$18K for a 2016 200 with the 3.6L V6? You better believe it.

Sub-$22K for a V6 with all-wheel-drive? Yes you can.

In April, consumers didn’t seem to care how low 200 prices were. With plentiful inventory and attractive offers, Chrysler 200 sales plunged 60 percent to 7,591 units in April 2016, a loss of 11,259 sales compared to April 2015.

After producing nearly seven in ten Chrysler brand sales in April 2015, when Chrysler sold 27,704 new vehicles, the 200 contributed only one-third of the Chrysler brand’s 22,843 sales in April 2016.

FCA dealers entered April with nearly as many 200s as Jeep Cherokees. Yet even in a down month for the Cherokee, there were more than twice as many Cherokees sold as 200s.

Observers will point to the overall midsize market’s malaise as a cause of the 200’s rapid slide. Indeed, as the American auto industry expanded by more than three percent in April, the midsize car segment lost sales. But the midsize segment’s decline was due largely to the 200’s sharp decrease. 200 excluded, midsize car sales actually increased two percent in April 2016. Camry sales were flat. The Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, and Chevrolet Malibu jointly jumped 22 percent.

From 10 percent market share in April 2015, the Chrysler 200’s share of the midsize market slid to four percent in April 2016.

If there was a bright spot in the 200’s April performance, it was the fact that 200 sales were higher last month than they were in March, when the overall market was larger. 200 sales rose to a four-month high of 7,591 units in April. But for a nameplate which averaged more than 12,000 monthly sales over the last two calendar years — and more than 19,000 monthly sales between March and June of last year — these figures are frighteningly poor, all the more so because 200s aren’t leaving dealers even at bargain basement price points.

How much lower would prices need to fall to stir up demand?

“Around town, the ZF (automatic transmission) is rarely in the right gear or even the gear that is next to the right gear,” Jack Baruth wrote in his April appreciation review.

“The upgraded Alpine audio system can’t cope with moderate increases in volume and caused many an interior part to quiver long before maximum output was called upon,” this TTAC writer wrote in late 2014.

“The 200 features a very contemporary roofline that slopes to create a pseudo-coupe profile, cutting rear seat headroom in the process. Combine that with a high rear seat cushion and you have a recipe for compromised headroom in the back,” wrote TTAC’s former managing editor.

With such glaring faults it’s no wonder Consumer Reports, in naming the Chrysler 200 one of the worst cars of 2015, said, “There are many better choices.”

Increasingly attractive incentives may never be enough to overcome that verdict.

[Image Source: FCA & © Timothy Cain/TTAC]

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

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  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
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