Cars and Drivers

Jeep April Sales Up 17% to Lead Chrysler 6% Overall Increase

Paul Ausick

Published: May 3, 2016 11:20 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 9:56 am

Year over year, sales rose 6% at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) in April to 199,631 units, the company’s best April sales level in 11 years. The Jeep brand posted a sales gain of 17% year over year, its best April sales ever. The Jeep Compass posted a sales gain of 124%, the Renegade posted a monthly sales gain of 131% and Grand Cherokee sales rose 12%. The venerable Jeep Cherokee saw sales decline by 7% year over year in April.

Analysts at Kelley Blue Book (KBB) had projected April sales at 201,000 units, up 6.3% year over year. Edmunds analysts estimated that the company would sell 197,759 units last month. KBB had forecast an average selling price of $35,032 for April, up 0.1% year over year and 4.8% month over month.

The company’s Jeep brand sold 84,298 units in April. Jeep has now set a sales record for 31 consecutive months. The all-new Jeep Renegade sold 9,730 units in April and has moved a total of 31,681 units in year to date.

Ram pickup sales rose 8% in April to 41,079 units, after posting a sales gain of 8% year over year in March. Last year, Ram sold 37,921 pickups in April. Ram pickups posted their best April sales since 2005.

Year over year, sales of the company’s Chrysler brand fell 18%, as sales of the Chrysler 200 tumbled 60% year over year in April to 7,591. Sales of the Chrysler 300 rose 47% to 5,570 units, the model’s best April sales level in four years.

The company’s Dodge brand sales fell 3% year over year in April, but sales of the Dodge Caravan rose 116% to 13,203 units in the month.

Chrysler projected a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales in the United States from all manufacturers at 17.9 million units for 2016. The Edmunds SAAR estimate calls for unit sales of 17.5 million this year.

Chrysler ended the month with an 84-day supply of inventory, up from 82 days of supply at the end of March.

Chrysler’s shares were down 3.1% Tuesday morning to $7.95, in a 52-week range of $5.78 to $10.93.