Category: Sales and Inventories
08/04/2020
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What FCA is joining: Stellantis’ hits and misses
FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV) and PSA (Peugeot SA) are set to merge into Stellantis, creating one company out of American Chrysler, Italian Fiat and Alfa Romeo and Maserati, French Peugeot and Citroën, and German-American Opel. Most Americans haven’t seen a Peugeot in many years, and only see Citroëns in movies if at all. So […]
07/06/2020
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Who’s winning the US sales races? (Did GM beat Ford in pickups?)
We know who gained and lost the most in second-quarter sales, but what about the smaller races to see who won in particular segments—like muscle cars and pickups? The Dodge Challenger may have dropped quite a bit in the first half of the year, but its final tally of 22,018 sales from January through June […]
07/01/2020
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Wow, sales have dropped! (Now includes Ford)
US car and truck sales plummeted over the last three months. At GM, sales dropped by 34% versus Q2 2019; the company did pretty well in the first quarter but got hammered in the second, albeit doing better than Fiat Chrysler. Chevrolet fell by 34%, Buick by 36%, Cadillac by 41%, and GMC by 33%. […]
05/29/2020
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Does the end of FCA-Windsor’s midnight shift mean there won’t be new product?
By now, if we believed Allpar.com and other rumor sites, we should have had a Chrysler Portal (like the one shown in New York years ago) and some form a crossover based on the Pacifica (like the old Pacifica, but presumably named Town & Country to really confuse older buyers). Rumor after rumor has come […]
04/07/2020
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In virus-clobbered sales, Toyota beat Jeep in SUVs, Gladiator beat Frontier, and more
Sales figures for the first quarter of 2020 are out, and it’s not pretty, largely due to the coronavirus—as well as the air being let out of America’s economic bubble. Between closed dealerships and a stock market suddenly plunging to more realistic levels, wiping out a couple of years of fast gains, car sales plummeted […]
03/14/2020
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Detroit is doing well (so far) under coronavirus COVID-19 threat; GM is staying home where it can
COVID-19, the latest coronavirus, has shut down businesses around the world. For example, Apple just reopened its stores in China, but will have far less to sell, and is closing stores elsewhere in the world. Fiat’s northern Italian plants have slowed production so workers can be spaced further apart, and many expect the plants to […]
03/09/2020
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What’s FCA doing with the Wrangler?
FCA sent two messages this week with the Wrangler. One message, adding it to the Friends & Family For Everyone discount list, was “We made too many Wranglers.” 2019 Wranglers come with up to $4,500 on the hood; 2020 Wranglers have a $1,500 rebate. The Jeep Gladiator pickup carries a $2,000 rebate, pretty sad for […]
02/20/2020
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Was 2019 a boom for pickup trucks? Yes, but not a record
There has been a lot of talk about the growth of pickup truck sales in the US. In reality, truck sales still haven’t quite hit the volume in the US they reached in 2005. 2005 was a good year, but then truck sales plummeted in 2008 and 2009, and have been on the rebound every […]
02/03/2020
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GM fails to see the obvious way to fix the CT6
The Cadillac CT6 was a surprising tour de force: boasting Cadillac’s Blackwing V8, rear wheel drive, and a Tesla-“Autopilot”-beating “Super Cruise” autonomous driving system, the sedan was supposed to be a reputation-remaker. The top sales year, though, was 2017, when it hit 10,542 in the United States. No other year hit five-figure sales, and 2019 was […]
01/09/2020
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Sedans failed to die in 2019
Sedans were supposed to be a dying breed in American showrooms, but like minivans, they just keep on keeping on. Toyota sold well over 600,000 Camrys and Corollas (combined), GM sold over 140,000 Malibus, and Dodge sold nearly a hundred thousand Chargers—two hundred thousand of their big cars, if you throw in the 300 and Challenger. […]