Now available, courtesy of your $12 billion investment! And since you’re a (minority) shareholder now, why not check out Chrysler’s release yourself? They’ve got some beautiful style. Leading off with bullet points on Wrangler (+7 percent), Challenger (+11 percent over last month) and T&C (+6 percent retail over last month, actually -31 percent year-on-year) and, using different sales metrics for each, it really paints a rosy picture of our new investment. Thanks a lot, Chrysler! I’m sorry your sales were down 48 percent compared to April 2008. But those vario-stat bullet points wouldn’t cheer up a Tickle-Me Elmo. No wonder Tom LaSorda just “retired.”
These are the stats of a dead company: Cars -61 percent, Trucks -44 percent. Yes, the Wrangler is up. Ram is only down 26 percent, with 17,903 moving in April. Otherwise things range from the bad (Grand Cherokee -45 percent, Journey -33 percent, 300C -49 percent) to the ugly (Sebring -75 percent, Compass -75 percent, Durango -87, PT Cruiser -76 percent, Avenger -76 percent, etc.). American taxpayer, I hate to be the one to say it, but you’ve made one lousy investment.
Not surprising. Just sad.
Chrysler and Dodge have been a dying brand – they are a me three hookup to what is offered from the D2 (the ones who still have a future if they’d just right the ship and put real managers in charge). Nope Chrysler should have been folded back in the 80’s when GM and Ford were still strong…they’d easily have absorbed all of Chrysler’s business and expenses. It wouldn’t have changed the fact that their ancient business models are no longer sustainable today and they’d still need to be on life support…but we’d only have 2 to deal with rather than 3.
I can’t remember when I have actually seen a PT on a lot. Ditto for a Sebring/Avenger.
1,400 PT’s to date. How the mighty have fallen.
I didn’t realize the PT Cruiser was still being produced, for some reason I just assumed that model had been boxed years ago.
we’d only have 2 to deal with rather than 3.
Uh, we’re only dealing with 2 right now. Ford has yet to take any bailout money, and it doesn’t look like they’ll need to (of course, that could easily change…)
The Chrysler brand was weak when it got the first bail out in the 1980s and while we got a classic like the Viper, the rest are not so hot. I know some are excited by the Challenger, but it is a two door 300. Is our tax dollars well served keeping a clunker company like Chrysler alive, I think not. We have schools that need money and the kind of debt that will kill this country if we keep letting grow.
Let Chrysler die so we can plug at least one money drain.
“The all-new 2009 Dodge Ram truck continues to capture the attention of consumers and increase its market share; sales of the all-new 2009 Dodge Ram Quad Cab model increased 26 percent compared to March 2009 ”
Hmm, could that have anything to do perhaps with the fact that you’re practically giving them away
June sales will be the most interesting to me. By then the effects of the Chapter 11 will have trickled down to the average consumer.
I’m guessing that at least half the folks walking into a Chrysler dealer this weekend don’t even know about the bankruptcy.
Do the dealers have to disclose the BK to a buyer before they make the deal?
No.
They really do need to shut down every plant that isn’t making a minivan, Ram, Wrangler or RWD large car.
Everything else is garbage, and the market has finally figured that out.
Several feature films must have gone into production: Whenever a dozen or more cars need to be crashed during a production, Chrysler’s products are always the featured vehicles.
“They really do need to shut down every plant that isn’t making a minivan, Ram, Wrangler or RWD large car.”
Isn’t that bascially the plan? With the 8 plants that are closing?
And I just looked at the FIAT website. What a bunch of crap. None of that will sell here. So what exactly is the plan?
The plan is to keep Chrysler limping along until a bigger problem shows up and everyone forgets about it.
I think SherbornSean hit the nail on the head.
Sales were down 48% below last year, but last year was 28% below 2007. It appears the slope of the graph of Chrysler’s tumbling sales is increasing. They only sold 34% of what they sold two years ago; and two years ago, Daimler knew it was time to say hasta la vista.
Earlier today I happened to drive by the local Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership. They had a huge sign on top of the building: “New 2008 Vehicles At Used Car Prices!” Yikes, they are still unloading 2008s???? We are nine months into the 2009 model year.
John Horner – Having some leftover 2008s isn’t uncommon for any car lot right now, in fact, I’d say it would be closer to the rule than the exception (excluding certain luxo brands that have high demand and carry very little inventory). Were only five months into 2009, and while yes, those models came out before the end of 2008, those who bought 2009s in 2008 just bought them early.
The real problem right now for a lot is any significant quantity of unsold 2007 inventory.
Imagine where would Chrysler be if they had to use their own platforms, not Mitsubishi`s or Mercedes`? What is wrong with Detroit, that every single company out of big 3 borrows floorpans, transmissions and engines from foreign companies? Anything that is complex in engineering ,is borrowed. When some det3 comanies had improved their reliability, in what extent it had to do with improvement of manufacturing processes at home, an to what extent it had to do with a simple factor that more and more parts are borrowed from foreign nameplates? Can anyone stop avoiding these questions and nail them for me? Thanx in advance!!!
Jurisb, along the lines of your last question…
Why is it OK for domestic carmakers to purchase from import companies, but it’s not OK for US consumers to do the same?
jurisb, Terry
Good points. My Mazda engineered hecho en Mexico Fusion is the best American car I’ve ever owned. Why is that?
matt: I think that you meant “North American” car. ;-)
Which is a shame :-(
Excerpt from the Allpar website:
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2009/05/auto-sales-drop-in-april/
Auto sales drop in April
May 1st, 2009
by Bill Cawthon
April’s seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate (SAAR) dropped back to 9.32 million light vehicles, a half-million-unit decline from March 2009 and a 5.2 million-unit drop from April 2008. It’s the second-lowest SAAR since the early 1980s and it may temper hopes that the market is rebounding. Analysts had been looking for a SAAR in the 9.8 million unit range.
Based on numbers reported by manufacturers today, a total of 819,540 cars and light trucks were sold or leased in April, a 34.4 percent drop from April 2008. The decline was fairly evenly split between passenger cars, down 34.2 percent, and light trucks, down 34.5 percent.
Year-to-date (YTD) sales are now 37.4 percent behind the first four months of last year.
General Motors retained the top spot, while Toyota, stung by a 41.9 percent shortfall, dropped to third for the month, behind Ford. It’s the first month Ford has beaten Toyota in more than a year. Toyota still leads Ford in YTD sales.
Chrysler dropped to fifth behind Honda in the monthly totals, but still retains a slim YTD lead.
For the second consecutive month, no automaker reported improved sales. Subaru fared best, down just 6.69 percent, followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen and Kia.
Chrysler had the largest decline of the major players, but Mitsubishi and Suzuki posted worse results, down 55.9 percent and 73.7 percent, respectively. Sales of Daimler’s tiny Smart dropped 49.9 percent.
Chrysler recorded the largest drop in market share, giving up 2.47 percent. Toyota wasn’t far behind, shedding 1.99 percent. GM added 0.38 percent to its share and Ford gained 0.68 percent. Honda was the month’s big winner with a 1.50 percent add.
There were bits of good news for Chrysler fans: The Wrangler is still hot, outselling every Ford and General Motors SUV or crossover except the Ford Escape. It’s again the best-selling traditional SUV and trails only the CR-V, RAV4 and Escape in the crowded SUV/CUV segment…
Anyone who doubts Chrysler has a rough road ahead need only look at GM’s “dead men walking.” Sales at Pontiac plunged 54.9 percent in April with only 10,838 sales. Even Chrysler did better than that. Dodge outsold the combined total sales of Buick, Cadillac, Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn. For the first four months of this year, Hummer sales are down by more than two-thirds and Saturn sales are off nearly 60 percent. With the factories stilled, public perception is likely to worsen, meaning May and June sales could be abysmal…
Hmmmmm… I thought this deal was dead in the water. Maybe not…
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2009/05/nissan-to-review-chrysler-agreement/
Nissan to review Chrysler agreement
May 1st, 2009
by Bill Cawthon
Nissan Motor Company has announced it will be reviewing its vehicle supply agreement with Chrysler LLC. The announcement comes a day after the American automaker filed for bankruptcy protection and finalized an alliance agreement with Fiat SpA.
The 2008 agreement covered the production of a small car for Chrysler in exchange for a new full-size pickup to replace the slow-selling Nissan Titan.
In February, Nissan said it was revisiting the benefits of the agreement after light vehicle sales plunged, requiring production and staffing cuts.
Mitsubishi will also discontinue buying the Raider pickup from Chrysler after the 2010 model year. However, this decision was based on slow sales.
The auto loans were meant to keep Chrysler alive so that the employees could continue to get paid. I’m sure nearly every current Chrysler employee wishes they worked somewhere else right now.
Those sales figures are atrocious! Chrysler and Mopar Man better hope Guido has a miracle in store for them.
Well, so much for the Canadian plants staying open. http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/05/02/9321861-sun.html
Then again, they have lots of inventory, so perhaps it won’t make a difference to sales.
Workers sure got stiffed though, as did the government that thought the plants might stay open.
Sales will only get worse after announcing bankruptcy.
At least with the ridiculous Fiat deal Chrysler workers can buy time and look for a new job. Chrysler is probably dead by 2015, or it will be broken up.
Once the US auto industry gave up in engineering it was a dead duck. What has happened to the innovative spirit of this country? Now we waste our times with silly technologies like Google and face book. Those disciplines are a lot easier to do than hardcore engineering.
The US is probably the only major industrialized nation that no longer engineers there own cars. Even the Australians still have Holden.
The Italians at Fiat must laugh at the pathetic mess the US auto industry is in.
BTW, it looks as if NASA will be without a manned space program for more than 5 years after the shuttle retires next year. We don’t even have that to look up to anymore.
This is the lowest point the United States has ever been in. At least during the great depression we actually made things, and there was a bright future after WW2. In the long run it looks as if the Germans and Japanese actually won the war!!
@akear
It is reasonable to whether the USA is still, in fact, a first-world country.
How long did the UK support British Leyland? I would think any country would do what the U.S. is doing.