Analysts at Kelley Blue Book had projected sales at 194,000 and Edmunds.com had projected more than 200,000 sales in December. A poll of analysts by Reuters had a consensus estimate of 196,500 unit sales. The stock price likely will feel the effect of the lower performance.
The company’s Jeep brand posted a sales gain of 19% year-over-year, with 63,274 units sold. That is the brand’s best November sales ever. Jeep has set a sales record every month in 2014 and an all-time sales high in May. For the full year, brand sales rose 41%, its best annual sales performance ever. Jeep sold 692,348 units in the United States in 2014, handily beating its previous annual record of 554,466 units in 1999.
Ram pickups have a 56-month streak of year-over-year sales growth. For the full year, Ram has sold 469,139 pickups and cargo vans, a 28% gain compared with 2013.
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Jeep’s all-new Cherokee was introduced in October of 2013, and sales in 2014 rose nearly 600%, compared with 2013 sales. Jeep sold 17,715 Cherokees in December, compared with 15,038 in December 2013, up 18%. Annual comparisons will get more difficult for the Cherokee now that it has been on sale for a full year.
Sales of the company’s Chrysler brand were up just 2%, as sales of the new Chrysler 200 have not taken off since its launch last summer, with sales for 2014 down 4% compared with 2013.
Chrysler projected a seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales in the United States from all manufacturers at 17.3 million units for 2014, down from last month’s projection of 17.5 million. The company ended the month with 72 days supply of inventory, down from 80 days of supply at the end of November.
FCA’s shares were down about 2% in early trading Monday to $11.44. The current post-IPO range is $8.54 to $13.76.
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