Fiat Chrysler Sales to Drop 9% in September as Industry Stays Flat

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 12, 7:46AM EST · Published Sep 27, 6:20AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Fiat Chrysler Sales to Drop 9% in September as Industry Stays Flat — © Thinkstock

September car sales should tick up 0.7% to 1,440,000 compared to the same month last year, according to Kelley Blue Book (KBB). But Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Inc. (NYSE: FCAU) is expected to have another horrible month, with sales down 8.8% to 176,000. Sales for most other major car companies are expected to rise at a healthy pace.

Some of the increase in sales will be due to hurricane activity that destroyed hundreds of thousands of cars, mostly in Texas and Florida. According to Tim Fleming, an analyst for KBB:

September will be another opportunity for the first sales increase of the year, as we project slight growth for the industry. While major hurricanes devastated parts of Texas and Florida in the past month, this is driving replacement demand for those drivers with vehicles destroyed. This demand has already started in some areas, but will continue into October and potentially November, as vehicle insurance payouts are received.

No matter what the reason, the industry can use the lift. Car sales have started to slip from record levels and earnings at manufacturers have started to suffer.

[nativounit]

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), the largest car manufacturer in the United States, is expected to have a banner month in September. KBB forecasts its sales will rise 7.7% to 269,000. Its market share is expected to reach a healthy 18.7%. In a rare set of circumstances, Toyota Motor Corp.’s (NYSE: TM) sales likely will pass Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F). Toyota sales are forecast to rise 9.5% to 216,00, while Ford’s are expected to rise 2.7% to 209,000.

Among the second-tier companies, Honda Motor Co. Ltd.’s (NYSE: HMC) sales are seen rising 1.0% to 135,000. Nissan’s sales are expected to fall 9.2% to 116,000. Hyundai-Kia’s sales are expected to fall 10.2% to 104,000. Subaru’s surging sales will continue in September, up 5.6% to 53,000. Volkswagen will continue the rebound from its diesel engine scandal with sales up 7.1% to 49,500. The world’s largest car company continues to have tiny sales in the American market.

Fiat Chrysler has suffered as sales of many of its passenger cars have collapsed, part of a migration of American buyers to sport utility vehicles and crossovers. The trend has particularly hurt sales of many of its Chrysler and Dodge brand models. Jeep sales have not been able to rescue the company, as sales of some of its older models have eroded.

If Fiat Chrysler’s sales continue to fall, it could lose its number four spot in U.S. sales to Nissan, which would be unprecedented and catastrophic. Fiat Chrysler is fighting to remain a major manufacturer in America.

[wallst_email_signup]

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.