The Jeep Gladiator has climbed to #3 among midsize pickups, which is admittedly not a large group of vehicles, partly by being available during a time of shortages. Now, parts shortages are hitting the Gladiator too, but only for one week of production—so far.Americans bought 48,784 Gladiators in the first half of the year, a … Read more
With half the year behind us, it’s time for that age-old question: who’s selling the most of what? This quarter, we had a fairly big surprise, in trucks.First, the #1 company is, as usual, GM—but Toyota is catching up very quickly. Whether that continues past the chip crisis is another question; Toyota had very few … Read more
The good news is that the former Chrysler’s sales shot up in the second quarter of 2021, rising by 32% to 487,657 (including Fiat and Alfa Romeo). The bad news is GM was up 40%, Hyundai was up 74%, Honda was up 66%, Toyota was up a stunning 73%, and Volkswagen was up 54%. Indeed, … Read more
Stellantis México just reported on its sales figures, which grew 61% compared with June 2020 and now includes Peugeot.Ram dominated the sales lists, with a June record of 2,787 vehicles; the Fiat-based 700 cleared 1,034 sales, while the ProMaster Rapid had 444 and the Ram Light Duty had 828.Dodge posted 1,141 sales, roughly half of … Read more
COVID shut down car assembly lines around the world. When they got back up to speed, a delayed reaction from shutdowns of chips and semiconductors—already in short supply—hit unprepared automakers and even Toyota, whose extensive supply-chain relations gave it some foresight.Stellantis cut another 38,000 Cherokees, Voyagers, and Pacificas out of its production schedule as a … Read more
We have confirmed with Stellantis that order banks for the 2022 Ram 1500 (DT) officially opened this today, but only for sold orders. This means that dealerships cannot order 2022 Ram 1500 pickups for inventory, but if you have been waiting to order a 2022 TRX, you can do so today. The downside is that … Read more
In its first quarter, Stellantis achieved a 23.6% market share in Europe (enough to beat entrenched leader Volkswagen, which includes Audi, Skoda, Seat, and smaller brands) and an 11.5% retail share in the United States; the company also has a market share of 22.2% in South America as a whole.The company shipped out 1,526,000 cars … Read more
The sales numbers from the American automakers are in for the first quarter of 2021 and once again, the Ford Mustang outsold the Dodge Challenger, but it wasn’t without a fight. Challenger sales were up an impressive 24% during the first three months of 2021, even as inventory levels are very low. In fact, the … Read more
First, the very good news: Stellantis out-sold Volkswagen AG in Europe, to be the best-selling automaker on the continent in its first quarter as a company. That comes with the caveat that Volkswagen is likely to make a comeback, but Stellantis may still have some tricks in store, with (among other things) clever hydrogen technology that … Read more
J.D. Power has released their 2021 review of customer service at car dealerships throughout the United States. Unlike the quality surveys, where Land Rover and Tesla anchor the bottom to make the Mopars look good, the customer service index is anchored by Mopar brands—with all but Dodge taking the bottom slots. (Maserati, along with Tesla … Read more
Stellantis has issued its first earnings report, covering the full year 2020 for FCA and PSA. The latter was considerably more profitable, with Peugeot, Citroën, and Opel bringing in a 7.1% adjusted operating margin in their automotive operations. The second half operating margin hit a record at 9.4%.At FCA, the adjusted earnings before interest and … Read more
Ford was late out of the gate with their sales summaries, and we could see why: overall sales for 2020 were down 16% from 2019, compared with a 12% drop at GM and Toyota alike. FCA did slightly worse with a 17% fall, but FCA cut their Q4 incentives by 7% from Q4 2019 while … Read more
FCA Canada had a very bad 2020, taking hits almost across the board. As in the USA, the Gladiator, in its first full year, was a bright spot; sales more than doubled, going from 1,950 to 4,481. However, Jeep took a bigger hit in Canada than the USA, dropping by 22% overall; as in the … Read more
FCA US sales dropped by 17% in 2020, compared with 2019. Every brand but Alfa Romeo fell, with Fiat dropping to less than half of their already poor sales.Ram made it through with the least damage, falling by 11%; by comparison, GM truck sales rose, and Toyota trucks fell by around 3%. The ProMaster fell … Read more
