FCA U.S. Posts It’s Fourth-Quarter & Year-End Sales Results:

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has released their official sales numbers for the fourth quarter of 2020, as well as the entire year and the results are interesting. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the company’s manufacturing operations shut down for two months, FCA U.S. sold a total of 1,820,636 units; down 17% compared to 2019 and officially showing us the damage the pandemic did to the Italian-American automaker in the U.S. marketplace.

For the results of the fourth quarter of 2020, FCA U.S. posted an 8% loss over the same time last year with 499,431 units sold. Retail sales actually grew 1% during the quarter thanks to the Jeep®, Ram, and Alfa Romeo brands, however, fleet sales are what ultimately pushed the quarter sales to the loss compared to the same time last year.

So how did the brands do? Let’s take a look…

Jeep® Brand:

With the next-generation Grand Cherokee (WL) ready to make its official debut tomorrow, the current Grand Cherokee (WK2) proved that still has what it takes to lead the brand selling 56,930 units for the quarter (down 2% compared to the same time last year). The Grand Cherokee also was the most sold Jeep nameplate for 2020 with 209,786 (down 14% compared to 2019).

In a close second place for both the quarter and yearly sales was the iconic Wrangler.

The Jeep brand ended up selling 213,715 units for the quarter (down 4%) and 795,313 units for the year (down 14% compared to 2019’s numbers).

Ram Brand:

The Ram Brand posted its best retail results ever in December, even though sales for the quarter were down 5% compared to the same time last year with a total of 181,297 units sold. There were 161,266 Ram pickups (1500, 1500 Classic, and Heavy Duty models) sold during the quarter (down 7%). 

Ram ProMaster vans had a boost during the quarter compared to 2019’s numbers with an increase of 13% with 17,060 units sold. Overall sales for the ProMaster were down 10% for the year, despite the successful fourth-quarter.

Ram’s compact ProMaster City van had no increase for the quarter, as it sold only 3 more units this past quarter than it did in the fourth quarter of 2019 with a total of 2,971 units.

Chrysler Brand:

Despite the recent rumors of the iconic Chrysler brand being eliminated from the Stellantis lineup (which it won’t), the brand was the only core Mopar brand to post a positive figure during the quarter with a 5% increase. This was in part of the Chrysler Pacifica, which had a 7% increase itself for the quarter with 29,512 units leaving dealer lots. A total of 93,802 of the Pacifica and its entry-level Voyager models found new homes during 2020 (-4% decrease compared to 2019’s numbers).

The Chrysler 300 Series has a strong quarter with 5,100 units sold, despite a horrible year with only 16,653 units sold during 2020. That is still well over three times the total of the entire FIAT brand combined and just under 2,000 units short of beating the entire Alfa Romeo brand for its successful 2020 sales numbers.

Dodge Brand:

The Dodge brand looks forward to 2021 with a new focus on performance. Gone are the popular mainstream people-movers – the Dodge Grand Caravan and Dodge Journey, in favor of a trio of performance-based vehicles with the Charger, Challenger, and Durango.

While many expected the Grand Caravan to lead the way in sales for the brand, it was actually the four-door Dodge Charger with 23,794 units for the quarter (down 8%) and a total of 77,425 for the year (down 20%). 

The entire brand sold 62,978 units during the quarter (down 31% over the same time period last year) and 267,328 units sold for the year (down 37%).

FIAT Brand:

We have talked about the dismal decline in sales of the FIAT brand in the North American marketplace many times over the past year. With the recent announcement of eliminating the 124 Spider and 500L from the 2021 model lineup, we can expect more of a decline in sales for the Italian mainstream brand.

Only 734 units were sold during the quarter with the 124 Spider leading the way with 326 units leaving dealer lots. The brand sold 267,328 units in total for the year (down 37%).

Alfa Romeo Brand:

The Alfa Romeo premium brand had a successful fourth-quarter posting a total of 6,093 units sold in the U.S. marketplace. This was up 23% over the same time period last year, with the Alfa Romeo Stelvio leading the way for the brand.

The Stelvio sold 3,526 units for the quarter and led the way for the brand in 2020 with a total of 10,284 units sold.