FCA U.S. Reports March 2019 Sales:

FCA US has just released their sales numbers for the month of March 2019, closing out sales numbers for the first quarter of this year. Across the board, sales were down compared to March of 2018 with the exception of a few bright spots.

First the good news, Ram pickups had a record-setting March selling 45,187 units, up 9% compared to March of 2018. Ram ProMaster was up 101% compared to March of last year moving 4,928 units compared to 2,451 just a year ago. ProMaster City was up 52% with 1,707 of the small utility vans sold vs 1,120 last year. As a whole, the Ram Brand was up 15% compared to last March. 

A bright spot for the Jeep Brand was sales of the Grand Cherokee which surged 26% compared to last March selling 24,665 units making it the best selling model in the Jeep Brand last month. The new Jeep Gladiator recorded 43 sales last month, all to FCA employees, Gladiators for consumer consumption should start arriving on dealer lots this month. The rest of the brand suffered compared to March of last year with Compass down 14%, Wrangler down 21%, Cherokee down 23% and Renegade down 24%. Overall Jeep sold 87,328 vehicles compared to 98,382 last March for an overall decline of 11%.

The Chrysler Brand is continuing to struggle with the Pacifica and 300 down 35% and 40% respectively compared to last March. Dealers also managed to move 8 left over Chrysler 200s last month compared to 189 in March of 2018. Overall Chrysler Brand sales of 12,169 for the month was down 38% compared to 19,499 in March 2018.

Dodge Charger sales were up 4% compared to March 2018 with 8,858 Chargers sold last month, Durango sales were up 13% with 6,626 of the SUVs sold. The rest of the models in the lineup were down though with Challenger falling 19% to 6,562 units sold, Journey down 17% with 8,513 sold, Grand Caravan was down 3% but still the volume seller in the Dodge lineup with 15,806 Grand Caravans sold last month. Overall the Dodge Brand was down 6% compared to last March, moving 46,367 units last month. 

FCAs European Brands continue to struggle to gain traction in the US with every nameplate from both the Alfa and Fiat Brands down double digit percentage points compared to March of last year. The Fiat brand as a whole was down 45% with 847 vehicles sold last month while Alfa Romeo was down 31% selling 1,774 vehicles. 

As a whole FCA US sold 200,307 vehicles last month, a 7% decline from March 2018 when they moved 216,063 vehicles. GM is down 8.3% compared to last March, Toyota is down 5.1%, Mazda is down 19.1%, Infiniti is down 23.1% and Nissan is also down 5.3%, Ford hasn’t announced their numbers yet at the time of this writing. Sales analysts are calling this the softest first quarter for vehicle sales since 2015.

“The industry had a tough first quarter but with spring finally starting to show its face and continued strong economic indicators, such as a boost in housing sales, lower lending rates and a strong labor market, we are confident that new vehicle sales demand will strengthen going forward,” U.S Head of Sales Reid Bigland said. “Meanwhile, our Ram brand sales and average transaction prices continue to be strong and our much anticipated, game-changing Jeep Gladiator pickup is on track for its in-market debut this month.”