Chrysler Stumbles on Lower Pickup Sales

Analysts at Kelley Blue Book had projected Chrysler’s sales at 168,000 and Edmunds had projected about 167,000 sales in February.

The company’s Jeep brand sold 55,642 units in February. Jeep has set a sales record every month since November 2013. Four of the brand’s five models posted their best-ever February sales marks, and the fifth, Grand Cherokee, had its best February sales in nine years.

Ram pickups and vans have a 58-month streak of year-over-year sales growth. February sales totaled 33,991, up 12% compared with February of 2014. Last year, Ram sold 469,139 pickups and cargo vans, a 28% gain compared with 2013. For the first two months of 2015 Ram sales are up 16%.

Although Ram pickups and cargo vans posted their best February sales in 10 years, sales growth has stalled. In February 2014, sales rose 28% compared with this year’s increase of 12%. Worse, pickup sales rose just 7% year-over-year in February, compared with a jump of 26% a year ago.

Year over year, sales of the company’s Chrysler brand are up 13%, as sales of the new Chrysler 200 rose 31% year-over-year to 15,805 units, on top of a 30% year-over-year gain in January.

Chrysler projected a seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales in the United States from all manufacturers at 16.5 million units for 2015, down from last month’s projection of 17 million. The company ended the month with 85 days supply of inventory, down from 101 days of supply at the end of January.

Chrysler’s shares traded down about 2.2% in Tuesday’s premarket session at $15.49. The current post-IPO range is $8.54 to $15.85.

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