Forecasters predicted that August sales numbers, published today, will be strong. Chrysler opened today’s barrage of sales numbers with much better than expected results.
Chrysler Group’s August sales are up 14 percent, boosted by strong Chrysler brand sales (up 25 percent) and healthy Ram Truck brand sales (up 18 percent). Kelley and Truecar expected less than 10 percent. So did, on average, the analysts polled by Bloomberg.
Said Reid Bigland, chief of Dodge and Head of U.S. Sales of Chrysler:
“Our Iron Man streak continued last month as we posted our 29th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales growth,” “Our hard work over the past few years is starting to pay some dividends in our sales growth, quality awards and profitability. Not to mention, an incredibly resilient U.S. new vehicle sales industry doesn’t hurt either.”
We will keep our eyes on today’s sales data. Please check back with us during the day.
If there is one thing Chrysler does well, it’s get the most out of its limited R&D budget. A single drivetrain – the pentastar 6 with 8-speed transmision is everywhere — from rough-and tumble Jeeps to the luxurious 300C to utilitarian Caravans to the torque-dependent Ram. That plus some upgraded interiors has made most of the product line competitive.
Got to be careful with that though….back in the 80’s, everything Chrysler was 2.2/2.5 and 3/4 speed automatic….
Except for the 318/Torqueflite in the Diplomat/Fury/5th Avenue. Compared to the ’70s though, Chrysler sold a bunch of cars with the 2.2/2.5, 3/4 speed auto, and made enough money to pay off it’s loans and develop V6 engines.
One thing everyone should be concerned about is Chrysler bringing in a 8 speed Transmission! I think the cost of the Repair would be very high, almost cheaper to buy a New Vehicle maybe?
This transmission has been around for a while, it’s a ZF transmission and used in a lot of the higher end european cars. I wouldn’t worry about reliability that much. The pentastar on the other hand, had some head issues in the earlier manufacturing runs which resulted in the need for a new head. I can’t wait to see hemi +8 speed when that combo finally comes available.
For Chrysler’s sake, it had better be the Anti-Ultradrive.
People, especially those former Chrysler owners who have been burned by that as well as the 2.7L fiasco years ago have L-O-N-G memories.
Wifey and I considered a new 200 convertible for our new car purchase, but those very things are what kept me firmly in Chevy’s camp, leading to the purchase of our Impala.
Sure, since GM cars have proven to be so bank vault reliable…
GM hasn’t been very guilty of catastrophic engine failure in the past decade, unless I am mistaken Chrysler kept the 2.7 dog to late 2004.
Dex Cool was a big fiasco back in the day but it was manageable, the 2.7 sludge was a design problem which could not be mitigated IIRC.
Chrysler’s near history has been full of fail but this doesn’t mean they cannot -or have not- improve moving forward.
THAT Chrysler died a few years ago. The 200 convertible would have been a lot more fun than that long-in-the-tooth Impala.
“The 200 convertible would have been a lot more fun than that long-in-the-tooth Impala.”
Well, perhaps, BUT with a 100-mile-a-day commute, it’s just not practical for me to drive a ragtop convertible – the elements and highway take their toll – and the retractable hard top – which is what we wanted – was well out of our price range, which would have had us thinking twice!
Our new Impala, long in the tooth as it is, was very affordable for that reason and just made the most sense. The 3.6L is fun when you step on it, though…
My comment above was not a swipe at Chrysler, as I’ve long been a Chrysler fan, it’s just that it takes time for a bad reputation to be repaired. I believe Chrysler is on the right track in that department, as we have been very impressed with what Mr. Marchionne has done in a remarkably short period of time.
Chrysler was covering up self-immolating Wranglers they built in 2010. The 2011 Grand Cherokee launch was a complete cluster. Look at True Delta for the laundry list of problems 2011 Jeep owners encountered. Chrysler’s rebirth has been just happening since 1981.
Ah no, a warmed over long-in-the-tooth Sebring is no more fun than a long-in-the-tooth W body Impala, they are both going to be lukewarm at best.
Checked Chrysler’s website, 200 Limited Conv V6 is $32,050, 4 cyl is $27,055. So I could have Impala with a 303hp V6 standard for 20K or so after all bs, or a V6 Sebring for over 30K?
Tough one.
Sounds like you should have cross-shopped a lower/mid level trim 300 or Charger against the Impala, not a 200 convertible. Now those would definitely have been more fun.
Cars that start life as hard tops and become convertibles, usually loose massive rigidity. The 200 (Sebring) doesn’t have much to begin with, so a convertible would be like driving a wet napkin.
Impala is way better. No sane person wants to be “That Guy/Michael Scott” in a Sebring Convertible.
The 2.7L only had problems for the first few model years. Improvements to the PCV system and improvements to commercially available engine oil eliminated the sludge problem. My 2003 vintage 2.7L is spotless inside and runs great. Let’s not forget that Toyota and Volkswagen/Audi had similar sludging problems.
Oh, and the 2.7L was used up through 2010, so it couldn’t have been that bad.
There’s a 3.2l Pentastar launching next year.
Mopar is just getting started. Expect a huge increase when the best in class 2013 Ram truck kicks in.
Good to see their sales numbers improving. The mopar brand still has some holes in it’s lineup that need filled, it will be interesting to see their avenger/200 replacement as the dart seems to be a bit of a let-down.
Bad news: the 200 replacement will be a stretched, widened version of the Dart. That’s Sergio’s answer to VW’s modular design. What Chrysler really needs is a compact 3 liter inline six and RWD for midsize and up vehicles.
Unfortunately inline sixes are a dead end due to packaging issues (length). It’s too bad too since I own 2 vehicles with inline sixes and love their linear power delivery.
I notice how we don’t hear much out of the Chrysler haters anymore who were predicting the demise of the company just a few short years ago and how they would never sustain the required sales per month to make it.
About all people can seem to drag out these days are stories of early Ultradrive transmission failures (Let’s not forget that trans launched over TWENTY years ago – Ford’s E4OD in the F-series was just as bad if not worse from around the same era, yet no one mentions it) or late ’90’s ex-rental or ex-lease Intrepids that had a sludged 2.7L (gee, it’s not like Toyota or VAG had the same problem – yeah right…plus we all know how well lease and rental cars are cared for).
I say good for Chrysler. It’s nice to have some choices out there that offer a good value for the money.
The younger Neidermeyer was a big Chrysler hater…I’d love to hear his thoughts on the current state of Chrysler sales…but I can’t help to think the next Chrysler Defibrillation is just around the corner.