Chrysler Group Reports November 2006 U.S. Sales Rise 3 Percent

[Buick61]

Chrysler Group Reports November 2006 U.S. Sales Rise 3 Percent

• Sales in November establish five-year November record
• Jeep® Wrangler sales surge 95 percent year-over-year; Dealers place orders for 62,000 units of Jeep Wrangler
• Dodge Nitro sales increase 80 percent over October 2006 sales; Dealer orders exceed 50,000 units
• Sales of Dodge Ram Pickup rise 8 percent

Auburn Hills, Mich., Dec 1, 2006 - Chrysler Group reported that unadjusted sales in November 2006 rose 3 percent to 164,556 units, compared to November 2005 sales of 159,898 units. November 2006 sales establish a five-year November record.

“Chrysler Group sales in November were up 3 percent over last year, marking the best November in five years,” said Steven Landry, Vice President, Sales and Field Operations – Chrysler Group. “Our new product lineup continues its customer appeal as they arrive at our dealerships and drive a big part of the sales improvement for the Chrysler Group.”

The company has launched nearly all of the 10 new products that were announced at the beginning of the year, and those products are generating customer and media praise while driving traffic into Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge showrooms.

Sales of the Jeep Wrangler, a direct descendant of the original Jeep vehicle, rose 95 percent to 8,735 units, setting a new November sales record. Previous year sales of the Jeep Wrangler totaled 4,482 units. The Jeep Wrangler has received in excess of 62,000 dealer orders, which exceeds three-quarters of total Jeep Wrangler sales in calendar year 2005.

The all-new Dodge Nitro, the first mid-sized SUV for the Dodge brand continues to distinguish itself in the retail marketplace with consumers. Sales of the Dodge Nitro totaled 5,489 units for November 2006, 80 percent higher than October 2006 sales of 3,044 units. Customer response to the Dodge Nitro has been very strong and Dodge dealers nationwide are responding by placing orders for more than 50,000 units.

Sales of the Chrysler Group’s best selling product, the Dodge Ram Pickup, rose 8 percent in November, posting sales of 27,826 units. Previous year sales totaled 25,667 units.

Full summary

[DuSpinnst]

The 4-Door Wrangler is the story of the year for Chrysler.

[Ming]

That Nitro is pretty good looking. Like a lot of recent Dodge products. The guys at Dodge know what I like. Brash, squared off looks, a decent selling price, and a recently designed powertrain. Aside from Hummer, GM's styling often tends to be a bit too soft and feminine for my tastes.

[01cavalier]

Jeep should have the 4-door Wrangler out several years ago. Great to see that the Nitro is doing well, though it is priced well compared to the Liberty and seems to have more to offer.

[asim]

Notice how they didn't bring up the Aspen. Probably because it can't sell worth crap. lol

[redimpss5]

Good for them!! Now if they can get all their iron off the Detroit airport tarmac, I might even think they are selling something.

[Buick61]

Full table now available registration-free.

[1G6]

Originally Posted by DuSpinnst

The 4-Door Wrangler is the story of the year for Chrysler.

Should have been out 30 years ago. Better late than never.

[Bravada]

Sales of the Dodge Nitro totaled 5,489 units for November 2006, 80 percent higher than October 2006 sales of 3,044 units.

Wasn't October the first month for this brand-new model?

That Nitro is pretty good looking. Like a lot of recent Dodge products.

That said, they couldn't have made them any cheaper or tackier. I've seen amusement rides with better finish, so this is an achievment in itself, but doesn't bode too well for DCX - they have no more room for economizing!

Now, let's dig through the tables:

Sebring is only a 1000 better than last year, and it's a brand new car vs. an antiquated car. Not good, though becomes self-explanatory with any photo of the Sebring. Almost no sales of Stratus - very weak position in the biggest segment of the car market!

300C lost 2000 dear (high-margin) units, Magnum down by more than Charger is up - LX's losing steam (and some hefty margins they could make).

PT Cruiser is up, becoming the best-selling Chrysler, but the Town&Country is down by the same amount, and I'd say the T&C probably had better margins.

Pacifica up by 1000, but didn't they slash the prices considerably in the meantime? There's a version cheaper than the Rendezvous now AFAIK! (here go the supposed margins) BTW, at the same 1000 high-margin Crossfire sales were lost.

Aspen - new model adds 2,365 (there are no 2365 Congressmen, where did they get this many people from?), those have to be relatively high-margin, though from what I've seen neither the price nor the volume is comparable to what Ford or GM squeeze out of their bling cruisers. A lifeline for Chrysler though.

Grand Cherokee lost 42% - that's 5000!!! Those were very high-margin sales, fortunately Commander recuperated some 4000 of those, and Wrangler chipped in with yet another 4000.

Caliber ahead of Neon at almost 3000, Compass adds another 3700 - margins on smaller cars aren't that high, but DCX has made everything to made them wider, and I don't mind raising prices (hint - see above).

Durango lost 47%!!! That's some 5000, more than Aspen sales + Ram increase combined! Dakota lost another 1K, Caravan gained a 1K, I think that makes them even.

Overall, with 3 all-new models (ones that didn't have predecessors), Chrysler group managed to sell less vehicles YTD. Sebring is failing miserably to live up to the cloud car's sales, most new models are rather lower-margin, occasional gains on older high-margin cars such as Ram or Pacifica might be due to rebates (there is at least some room for those in case of high-margin ones). The automaker that has an enormous stock of unsold cars can't do better than last year - bad Chrysler, bad.

But then, Chrysler has been carefully preparing the plan that led it to its situation for the past few years - it was a very-well planned corporate failure. How considerate...

There are a few cars in the pipeline yet that could turn the situation around a bit - Patriot, Sebring Cabrio, Avenger - but it will be a hard task for them to do that alone... In the long run, the only hope is the minivan.