Every time a year’s worth of sales are released, there are some oddball orphans in there—in 2022, for example, dealers sold four Dodge Darts, which ended production in 2016, not to mention a lone Dodge Viper and Alfa Romeo 4C. They even sold four Jeep Patriots, which you may recall as looking like an original XJ Cherokee while sharing its basics with the Dodge Caliber—sort of the Jeep J90 / JJ brought to life at last.
For 2023, the trend continued. The sale of a few extra Vipers isn’t a surprise; a small number of dealers stocked up on them and held them for years waiting for the right price. In 2022, just one changed hands; in 2023, two more found new owners. The sale of three more Darts, which again have not been made since 2016, is more of a surprise. So is the sale of a (one assumes) final Jeep Patriot in 2023, though those got a 2017 model year. Perhaps a dealership had title problems, or was using it to ferry parts on its property or some such? Regardless, three Darts and one Patriot somehow made it through the post-COVID car shortage to find a new buyer when cars were easy to find.
Fiat somehow managed to double its 2022 Fiat 500 sales though they have been discontinued, selling 16 of them; and its 500L sales were nearly identical to 2022, with eight sold in ’22 and seven sold in ’23. What’s more perplexing was selling 28 discontinued Fiat 124 Spiders in 2023 when they only sold 24 in 2022. All 28 Spiders and most of the other orphaned Fiats found new homes in the fourth quarter, contributing to Fiat’s first sales increase in years. For the year, Fiat still managed to drop by its usual 34%—but the brand is rapidly running out of cars to not sell. Fortunately, Fiat is preparing to launch a new 500e in the United States, which should easily bring sales into the black. Alfa Romeo had an overall sales drop, too, but the single 4C they sold in 2023 was matched by one in 2022, so it was no help.
Chrysler had its own two oddballs, the 200 (selling four in 2023—double its 2022 sales!) and the Town & Country minivan (selling two in 2023 and none in 2022). There are people who still love the 200, and the Town & Country was still mildly popular when it was dropped; but one would have thought that they’d have run out.
Speaking of which, the company is slowly running out of Dodge Journeys, with only 36 sold vs 194 in 2022. On the other hand, 2023’s 27 Dodge Caravan sales perfectly matched 2022 sales, so perhaps the factory is slowly producing Caravans on the quiet.
