Incentives Drive Chrysler September Sales

Year over year, sales slipped 1% at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) in September to 192,883 units. The Jeep brand posted a sales decline of 3% year over year, as the Jeep Wrangler posted a sales decline of 18% and the Compass posted a monthly sales drop of 16%. Grand Cherokee sales rose 18% and Patriot sales were up 33%.

According to TrueCar, Fiat Chrysler’s incentive spending rose to $4,302 per unit, up 22.8% year over year and 2.3% compared with August 2016. Compare to per unit incentive spending of $4,092 at Ford and $4,101 at GM, up 11.4% and 2.1%, respectively, year over year.

In July, Fiat Chrysler announced a change to its method of reporting monthly sales and restated sales totals back to 2011. The July report was the first prepared under the changes.

Analysts at Kelley Blue Book (KBB) had projected September sales at 190,000 units, down 1.6% year over year. Edmunds.com analysts estimated that the company would sell 187,599 units last month, a 2.8% decrease. KBB also estimated an average selling price of $35,469 for September, up 0.94% year over year and up 0.4% month over month.

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The company’s Jeep brand sold a total of 76,331 units in September and has sold a nine-month total of 707,106, up 12% year over year. The all-new Jeep Renegade has sold 77,252 units for the year to date, up 112% compared with the same period last year.

Ram pickup sales increased 29% in September to 47,792 units and posted a year-to-date sales increase of 8%. Last year, Ram sold 37,004 pickups in August.

Year-over-year sales of the company’s Chrysler brand dived 27%, as sales of the Chrysler 200 fell 68% year-over-year in September to 3,185. Sales of the Chrysler 300 tumbled 17% to 5,459 units. The all-new Pacifica minivan posted September sales of 9,172, and it has sold 35,572 since first becoming widely available in April.

The company’s Dodge brand sales fell 6% year-over-year in September, while sales of the Dodge Caravan dropped 18% to 8,179 units in the month. The Journey compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) got a sales boost of 6% year over year to 12,091 units sold in September.

Chrysler’s shares traded up about 0.4% Monday morning, at $6.43 in a 52-week range of $5.45 to $10.89.

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