While its monthly losing streak didn’t quite end in September, at least officially, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles did take some major steps forward in sales growth thanks to several Jeep vehicles posting large increases versus September 2016.
Overall, FCA Tuesday reported a 10 percent decrease in September sales compared with the same month last year, marking the 11th straight decline for the automaker. However, FCA said retail sales actually grew 0.3 percent thanks to a record month for Jeep Compass and double digit growth from Wrangler, Grand Cherokee and Renegade.
Industry analysts expected a 13 percent decrease for FCA in September.
Most of the monthly drop can be traced to FCA’s current strategy to reduce fleet sales as this segment dropped 41 percent year over year. The largest planned reduction in fleet sales came from Jeep, which fell 67 percent and contributed to the brand’s four percent total decrease. On the retail side, Jeep boasted a nine percent gain.
The newly redesigned Compass led the way for Jeep, jumping 75 percent with 11,356 vehicles sold in September. Dubbed a ‘baby’ Grand Cherokee, Jeep has pinned a lot of expectations on the Compass and, so far, it appears customers have responded well to the vehicle.
Grand Cherokee also continued its strong showing and saw a 20 percent increase for September. The Grand Cherokee, considered Jeep’s most profitable vehicle for FCA, has improved sales throughout the year and now sits only behind the Ram Truck as FCA’s top selling model.
Another positive for FCA was the September performance of Renegade. The vehicle started off 2017 with impressive sales numbers, but slipped a bit into negative territory as the summer progressed. However, Renegade surged back in September, posting a 38 percent increase that also pushed the vehicle back into positive territory (up four percent) for 2017.
Wrangler finished off Jeep’s strong September with a 10 percent increase – one of its best months so far – and also moved back into positive numbers for the year. Wrangler still stands as FCA’s third-best selling vehicle and definitely has a shot to eclipse 200,000 sold in 2017 if demand continues at the present pace. Jeep’s Wrangler sold just over 202k units in 2015, but fell to 191k in 2016. No matter this finish this year, expectations will be high for 2018 as a redesign - the vehicle's first since 2007 - should create intense demand. FCA also expects to sell the current edition Wrangler through March, giving consumers a choice of new models through, at least, the first half of next year.
On the down side, Cherokee sales continued to disappoint and fell 29 percent in September. While the vehicle is due for a refresh in 2018, FCA can’t be happy about its 2017 performance. Overall, Cherokee is down 26 percent for the year, which follows a 10 percent drop in 2016.
In all, FCA reported September sales of 174,266 vehicles with retail sales making up 84 percent of total sales.
Rounding out the big-three automakers for September, GM posted an 11.9 percent jump, while Ford saw sales increase 8.7 percent.
