Former Chrysler (FCA US) announces hefty sales drop

FCA US, the former Chrysler with Alfa Romeo and Fiat’s US operations, announced a substantial drop in sales—21% for the second quarter, 16% for the first half. While some of this can be blamed on a long gap between 2025 Charger unveiling and production, dealers have ample inventory of all vehicles.  The good news was a hefty increase in Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer sales.

The news was not all bad, as Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer sales were much higher than in Q2 2023; Chrysler and Alfa Romeo sales grew; and Ram grew by 11% over its first-quarter sales, largely due to a 47% increase in commercial fleet sales driven partly by a 373% or 163%, depending on which sentence one reads, increase in ProMaster van sales from Q1 to Q2 2024.

The Wrangler 4xe, Grand Cherokee 4xe, Hornet R/T, and Pacifica Hybrid were four of the five best selling plugin hybrids in the United States. The Wrangler 4xe was good for 39% of Wrangler sales in the second quarter, the Hornet R/T was 46% of Hornet sales, the Pacifica hybrid was 21% of Pacifica sales, and the Grand Cherokee 4xe was 12% of Grand Cherokee sales. Higher PHEV sales translate to lower gas mileage penalties.

Looking at the first half, the most popular FCA US brand was Jeep, with 304,186 sales. The most popular Jeep was the Grand Cherokee, with 106,751 sales, though that was 15% off from the first half of 2023. The next best seller was the Wrangler—the two have usually contended for first place—down just 9% despite heated competition. The discontinued Cherokee and Renegade continued to fall along with inventory. The Wagoneer had a reasonably good 29,875 sales—doubled from H1 2023—while the premium Grand Wagoneer turned in 7,555 sales, up 43%.

Ram came in second place with 200,793 sales for the first half, down 26% from H1 2023. The ProMaster City, discontinued some time ago, fell from around 10,000 to 45, but the main damage was at the Ram pickup line, which fell by 20% to 179,526 sales. While it’s easy to blame the loss of Hemi Ram 1500s, the Hemi remains in the Ram 2500/3500, and many of the cars still at dealers have Hemi V8s. ProMaster vans also fell by 44% in the quarter.

Dodge was the #3 brand, with 92,735 sales including on Viper and two Caravans. The new Hornet turned in 11,718 sales over six months, which is good when compared to the Alfa Romeo Tonale’s 1,615 sales; but otherwise is not impressive. The discontinued Charger dropped by 42%, with 26,876 sales, and the Challenger dropped by 13% to 21,217. Finally, the mainstream Dodge which hasn’t been discontinued, though many seem to think it has, dropped by 11% to 32,921. The Durango is still sold with the Hemi V8, suggesting that is not the reason for the drop.

Alfa Romeo gained by 2% with the Tonale’s broad availability starting in H2 2023, but the Giulia and Stelvio both fell by nearly a third; Alfa claimed 4,777 sales, far less than the Grand Wagoneer alone. Fiat gained from 2023 due to the addition of the new 500e; while 500e availability is still limited, the company sold 204 of them, versus one old-stock 500 in the first half of 2023. The 500X eked out 266 sales, down 4%.

Overall, it was not a banner half for Stellantis, which turned in 677,533 US sales. However, many new products are being developed and should be in full production by this time next year.