Why, that news is so good that the Freep is happy to throw ChryCo the irony-free headline. April Fools! Sales are actually down 39 percent compared to March 2008. It’s just that Chrysler hasn’t topped 100k monthly sales since September. Does this look like a turnaround to anyone? Bueller? Jim Press? “The market is starting to show small signs of life which need to be nourished like seedlings.” What a touching image. Tiny seedlings struggling to life under a pile of government cash. Please, describe these plucky little plants for us, Mr. Press. “The fact that we exceeded 100,000 units for the first time since last fall is encouraging, and evidence that our improved quality, improved mileage as well as value represented in Employee Pricing Plus Plus are just what the doctor ordered for recession-wary customers who are reluctant to make long-term purchases. It’s too early to see a trend, but spring shows signs of hope.” If showing signs of hope is your job description, perhaps. But how did the federal proclamation (PDF) of “the poor quality of [Chrysler’s] existing product portfolio” affect the sales seedlings?
The phrase “bloodbath” leaps to mind. By brand, Dodge fared the best with a dismal 33 percent drop in sales; Jeep fell 41 percent; and the dead-alive Chrysler brand shed 61 percent. Sebring jokes are taking their toll—the iconically worst car in America lost 78 percent of its sales compared to last March. The only Chrysler model with less than a 40 percent sales loss was the Town & Country, down 34 percent. Jeep’s Compass and Patriot were both down by over 70 percent, while the Wrangler proved its eternal appeal with a 16 percent increase. The only other ChryCo product with improved month-on-month sales was the Dodge Journey, which was up a statistically irrelevant 127 percent compared to last year’s supply-limited March performance. On the other end of the Dodge scale, the Durango was down 81 percent.
Sure, they moved 100,000 units, but they had a ton of cash on the hood of each one, lost money on every car, and still have 6 months of inventory.
100K X $5k/car = $0.5B incentives
Stop them now mister president.
Bunter
Great job guys! Broke through the 100,000 unit barrier. Good job indeed.
Let’s see if we can do it again next month! Only this time let’s see if we can do it and “Make Money”.
So many of the 100,000 units went to fleets? Since Sebring sales were down so much, maybe it’s not many. Then again maybe they are unloading Journeys on the fleets.
The Crossfire will not die.
Sebring sales were only down 78%? They must have sold some to fleets!
The Patriot and Compass sales numbers aren’t surprising at all. What’s surprising about them is that they’ve made it this far. The Wrangler sales must be people trying to get one before the lights are shut off at Chrysler and they’re no longer available.
I think Jeep buyers are getting them while they still can, accounting for the increase. Sebring is a dead brand running, can we just put ir out of it’s misery?
Toyota is off too but they didn’t take our money and give it away. Next new car I buy will be foreign, and if asked why I will say I already paid for a Detroit brand through payroll deductions.
GS650G-You could buy a Ford.
Chrysler’s March U.S. sales break 100K (down 39%)
April 1st,
2009 by Bill Cawthon
Chrysler today reported March U.S. total sales of 101,001 units, which is the first time since Sept. 2008 that the Company has surpassed 100,000 units, albeit at a a 39% decrease versus 2008. Retail market share stayed steady, at an estimated 10.0% versus 9.9% in March 2008. Total March sales include a fleet reduction of 44% year-over-year for the same period.
The Company finished the month with 349,612 units of inventory, or an 87-day supply. Inventory is down 17 percent compared with March 2008, when it totaled 423,607 units.
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2009/04/chrysler-march-sales-break-100k/
Trying to get seedlings to grow? Oh, so that’s why they’re spreading so much bullshit.
John
carguy622:
“So many of the 100,000 units went to fleets? Since Sebring sales were down so much, maybe it’s not many.”
superbadd75:
“Sebring sales were only down 78%? They must have sold some to fleets!”
Fleet sales were down 44%.
“The only other ChryCo product with improved month-on-month sales was the Dodge Journey, which was up a statistically irrelevant 127 percent compared to last year’s supply-limited March performance.”
Interesting how the Journey is outselling Ford’s Flex. Not the same size but Ford has wasted millions marketing a car no one seems to want. Dodge doesn’t seem to market the Jorney very much. Are they afraid it will take sales away from the Caravan?
Rays of sunshine in Chrysler March Sales
April 1st, 2009
by Bill Cawthon
Top news for Chrysler fans: GM has out-slumped Chrysler and now has the worst sales record of the Big Six automakers. Chrysler sales were down 39.3 percent in March compared to a 40.8 deficit at Ford and a 44.7 percent plunge at GM. In year-to-date (YTD) sales, Chrysler’s shortfall is 45.5 percent, trailing Ford’s 43.3 percent but ahead of GM’s 48.8 percent dive compared to March 2008. Incidentally, Chrysler’s estimated average incentive was just $91 more than GM’s new record.
The Caravan and Town & Country were nos. 1 and 2 in the minivan segment and now lead the Odyssey and Sienna in both monthly and YTD sales.
The Jeep Wrangler, with 10,000 sales, not only outsold every traditional body-on-frame SUV, it outsold every light GM truck except the Chevy Silverado.
Chrysler LLC (Chrysler, Dodge & Jeep) sold more light trucks than Ford Motor Company (Ford, Mercury, Lincoln and Volvo).
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2009/04/rays-of-sunshine-in-chrysler-march-sales/
I walked into a dealership on Friday and asked them to show me a Charger SRT8. The dealer showed it to me but refused to let me test drive it – it had about 7 miles on the ODOM.
You’d think they’d be doing whatever possible to make potential buyers happy.
You’d think if the potential buyer drove up in a Chrysler 300, you’d think he just might be serious.
Flashpoint, I take it this is not the dealer you bought your 300 from? Write to Jim Press and tell him what happened. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you got a reply from him.
WHY is this site flaming Chrysler? Weren’t Toyota sales down just as much???
And I am TIRED of idiots implying that the taxpayers are picking up the tab for Chrysler and GM. When will they understand that these are LOANS and not GIFTS like the bankers received?
GS650G, show me proof that money deducted from your paycheck has gone to Chrysler. Sheesh, some people just don’t get it.
windswords :”Interesting how the Journey is outselling Ford’s Flex.”
The tourists are still descending upon San Francisco in droves, God bless ’em, and based on my highly scientific survey of those little tell-tale bar code stickers in rear windows, I’d say that all those turning down Sebring convertibles at the rental counter are being handed the keys to shiny new Journeys. That might have something to do with the sales disparity with the ReFlux.
The Journey competes with the Edge, not the Flex.
The Flex competes with the upper end of the Grand Caravans/Town and Country line.
The Flex is a great vehicle released at the wrong time.
Chrysler has been purposely reducing fleet sales. Journey sales are going to retail consumers.
What is so special about Toyota? Toyota is asking for a bailout from Japan. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anVdkcIs4K3g&refer=home
Chrysler sales look great for March considering the economy and that also Toyota sales dropped nearly 40% as well.
BDB:
“The Journey competes with the Edge, not the Flex.”
I know. I said as much. It’s just funny all the hoopla that was made about it while the Journey was panned (and not supported by marketing). I have a neighbor that just got one. It’s a “fleet” vehicle (company car). He got it so they could keep the miles off the Sienna minivan that his wife uses to schlep their two kids around. But they really like it. From asking them about it they don’t feel like it’s a penalty to take it somewhere instead of the Sienna.
I haven’t driven a Journey, but I’ve sat in one and, at first blush, it seems to be good for what it is. A vehicle to drag kids, dogs, groceries and ‘stuff’ from a to b. That’s all it will ever do. My only worry with it would be the longevity.
I hate to say it but for the vast majority of drivers, 99% of their driving is drudgery, and the other 1% is crapping themselves avoiding an accident (that split is 70/30 in Toronto, but I digress).
Boring is good. People love boring.
Boring is good. People love boring.
At least most people do. This is why Toyota is #1 even though they make the most soulless, boring, bland cars in the entire universe.
Windwards, I don’t recall the Journey being panned exactly–it’s just boring. The Flex doesn’t (look) boring, so it got better press.
The Patriot and Compass sales numbers aren’t surprising at all. What’s surprising about them is that they’ve made it this far.
They really, REALLY screwed up the Patriot launch. First they launched it alongside the Compass, and then it got that craptastic interior at the beginning.
If it was just the Patriot, and it was released with the ’09 interior and other improvements (sound deadening, fuel economy), I think the entire industry would be singing a different song about this vehicle.
Chrysler’s sales may have only been down 39%, but 2008’s sales were 19% below 2007. Chrysler March 2007 sales were down 5% below a “very strong” 2006. The trendline for 2010 doesn’t look pretty.
I wonder how many workers at Chrysler and GM took the early retirement incentive of up to $25,000 off the purchase of a new car. Enough to skew the monthly sales numbers?
I’ve been waiting 37 years for the 2009 Challenger and it is the most quiet comfortable sport coupe I’ve ever been in. The V6 is darn near an economy with the performance of a 1960s V8. Loaded for under $19k employee ++.
Interesting how the Journey is outselling Ford’s Flex. Not the same size but Ford has wasted millions marketing a car no one seems to want.
The Journey is ten thousand dollars cheaper, if not more. That’s kind of hard to walk away from. Ford’s mistake with regards to the Flex was pricing it such that it put their only three-row offering** out of the reach of most families’ budgets, especially now. This is huge, gaping, sucking hole in Ford’s lineup, one that’s gone unfilled since they canned the Freestar years ago.
Conversely, the reason Chrysler is moving so many Caravans (and to a lesser degree, Journeys and T&Cs) is that they’re the absolute cheapest three-row non-discretionary vehicle; essentially the vehicular version of milk, eggs and bread. Cheaper than the Flex. Cheaper than the Oddy or Sienna. Cheaper, even, than the much smaller Mazda5 and Kia Rondo once the toe-tag discount is applied.
There’s a market for cheap.
The problem is, well, this: I would have bought a new Caravan instead of a used Sienna if it wasn’t being screwed together by a company that penny-pinched it’s way to the bottom of the quality rankings and wasn’t a heartbeat from insolvency.
** toe-tagged Explorers don’t count.
A lot of guys buying Wranglers are taking advantage of the deals to trade-up. The current JK Wrangler is the best stock 4×4 yet with all kinds of after-market support. I don’t think it has much to do with getting a Jeep while they still can. Jeep owners assume someone will always build Jeeps, especially the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee.
I wonder what Jeep would be like under Toyota or Honda? As a Jeep owner I’d like to see that.
psarhjinian:
“The Journey is ten thousand dollars cheaper, if not more. That’s kind of hard to walk away from. Ford’s mistake with regards to the Flex was pricing it such that it put their only three-row offering** out of the reach of most families’ budgets, especially now.”
The higher price of the Flex doesn’t account for how it’s getting trounced in the market place by GM’s Lambda’s, which are priced similarly. This is not the reason the Flex is not selling like they expected it to.
“Conversely, the reason Chrysler is moving so many Caravans (and to a lesser degree, Journeys and T&Cs) is that they’re the absolute cheapest three-row non-discretionary vehicle; essentially the vehicular version of milk, eggs and bread.”
Isn’t that what many of the B&B here say the auto companies should do? Sell basic, reliable transportation? Or can only Toyota do that? If you believe JD Powers the trendline for problems per 100 cars has been steadily declining for years now. The “Industry Average” marker in their surveys keeps going down as it does for the best performer and the worst performer. The worst VW only has 2 problems per car on average. Back in the 80’s and even 90’s 2 problems per car average would have been considered very reliable.
Midnighthour-
Loans are temporary, and are repaid at some agreed-upon future timeframe, with interest. Bankrupt and soon to be liquidated companies do not repay loans. Thus loans they are not, but merely taxpayer-funded handouts.
windswords: The higher price of the Flex doesn’t account for how it’s getting trounced in the market place by GM’s Lambda’s, which are priced similarly. This is not the reason the Flex is not selling like they expected it to.
Well, yes and no. The cheaper Lambdas are cheaper than the Flex, both in terms of MSRP and to what levels GM dealers are willing and able to stoop to in order to move them.
The Flex really is the better car, but (at least when I went shopping) you could get a Traverse for under CA$30K easily; the Flex wasn’t available at that price. It’s a nifty vehicle and all, but it’s too expensive for the times. The Journey and Traverse make more sense to more people.
Isn’t that what many of the B&B here say the auto companies should do? Sell basic, reliable transportation? Or can only Toyota do that? If you believe JD Powers the trendline for problems per 100 cars has been steadily declining for years now.
I believe JD Powers’ data as well as Consumer Reports. I’m also a big believer in “if you’re selling a product for fifty percent less than your competitor, what are you cutting out in order to do it?”. In the case of the Caravan, it’s pretty obvious that a) Chrysler decontented the damn thing to within an inch of it’s life, b) the 3-5 and 5-10 year fall-off in reliability is awful and c) they aren’t even trying anymore and it shows (when three of the five new vans in my local dealer’s lot were showing tailgate warping, that’s not a good sign).
I wanted to like the Caravan, I really did. It’s a locally-made product and it is, if you ignore the problems of it’s parentage, an intelligent, competent and utilitarian vehicle (unlike, say, the thoroughly wretched Chevy Uplander). But you really have to surrender a lot of misgivings about Chrysler and Cerberus to put money on it.
I ended up buying a used Sienna CE, topped up the extended warranty and kept my money local otherwise.