05-03-2010, 05:56 PM | #1 |
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Chrysler's April Sales Report
While the other thread discusses sales results for the entire industry I wanted to create this thread to review Chrysler's performance.
Here's a link to the Press Release issued by Chrysler - click here While it's great news Chrysler's sales are up 25% over last year, I'm betting that figure may be skewed by fleet sales. When you have a month where Sebring sales are up 207% and Avenger sales are up 340% I tend to get suspicious. That said, the Dodge Challenger had its best month ever with a 42% sales increase over last year and it's not a vehicle that likely has much fleet exposure. Additionally, it was great to see inventory drop from last year's levels when massive wholesale pressure resulted in overflowing lots and stretched floorlines. The only other concern I see off-hand is sales of the LD and HD Ram - why does such a great truck have such poor sales results? |
05-04-2010, 08:54 AM | #2 |
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ld --hd ram - truck buyers today seem to be business people. our incentives are non competitive in todays market. being truck of the year wont make up for lack of free money or heavy incentives. its truly the best product in the world, however, ford and chevrolet still build pretty good trucks. we quit ordering trucks until we feel the company understands the reality of todays marketplace. just our opinion.
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05-04-2010, 09:03 AM | #3 |
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X-Man, regarding the Challenger sales increase, if you think back to a year ago, about the only Challenger available at this time were the Numbered SRT's limited edition of which there were only 6400 built if memory's correct and since we know not all 6400 were sold in the month of April it wouldn't take much to have even a 200% (intentionally inflated) increase.
Like you, I suspect those with the significant increases are due to fleet, not retail..... AFTERTHOUGHT Ya know, I was just thinking, I believe the number of NewCo dealers stand somewhere around 2000, (I could be wrong as memory isn't what it used to be) but if I somewhere close on that number, even assuming no fleet in those numbers, that's still only an average of 47.85 new vehicle sales per dealer for the month, How long can dealers survive if those numbers are any where close to accurate. Last edited by F&I Pro; 05-04-2010 at 09:17 AM. Reason: add the afterthought |
05-04-2010, 10:16 AM | #4 | |
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I also think Chrysler's failed to understand the basic psychology of most new truck buyers - if you're going to spend $50K+ on a new truck you expect more than a $1,500 rebate. My bet is most customers fear if they buy a new Ram today the rebate will go up in the future and no one wants to be the person who bought their truck before the big rebates came out. Here's a suggestion for the Chrysler people from Auburn Hills who surf the site - offer a "Double the Difference Rebate Guarantee." It's a simple offer that let's your customer's know if the rebate on their new Ram LD/HD increases in the next 12 months that Chrysler will pay them double the difference. |
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05-04-2010, 10:33 AM | #5 |
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MABC Numbers 6477 for april 2010 4953 for april 2009. 20,178 YTD 20,269 last Year. 40 Units for 1st page.
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05-04-2010, 10:38 AM | #6 | |
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05-04-2010, 12:28 PM | #7 | |
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With all of the positive media coverage Ford's been getting with their new Mustang I'm pleased to see the Challenger have a good month. Concerning F&I Pro's other comment, the last time I checked half of the dealers in the West BC sold 19 cars or less and only three sold 100 or more. The fact that Chrysler cut 789 dealers so they could increase their sales/dealer and then they go into "hibernation" mode is insane. |
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05-04-2010, 01:03 PM | #8 |
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MrM, thanks for the correction, I forget sometimes that I've been with Ford for nearly a year now, time flies when you're havin fun....
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05-04-2010, 01:08 PM | #9 |
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05-04-2010, 07:07 PM | #10 |
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05-04-2010, 10:55 PM | #11 |
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06-02-2010, 12:32 PM | #12 |
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Not wishing to post negative comments to the forum, I hesitated making this post, but if the #'s posted below are correct, Isn't it almost impossible for Chrysler to make money if so much of their sales are based on Fleet sales?
The numbers below were posted May 28th on CRDR. Apr '10 vs. Apr '09 DSR % +/- Company Retail Fleet Combined GM 15% -7% 7% Ford 31% 14% 25% Chrysler -7% 145% 25% Toyota 30% -11% 24% Honda 13% 0% 13% Nissan 36% 18% 35% Hyundai 69% -54% 30% Kia 33% -13% 17% Industry 22% 10% 20% Source: DOD-Sales and Industry Analysis Fact: All major carmakers were up by double digits in April from Honda +13% to Hyundai +69% except Chrysler who was down -7% Fact: Chrysler has been trying in arbitrations to explain away their sales declines by claiming we are comparing year ago sales at fire sale prices to this year's sales with lower incentives. The reality is transaction prices are up significantly throughout the industry and Chrysler incentives are still the highest. (e.g., April $3,664 pvr vs. industry $2,702 pvr) Fact: The arbitrators need to know that Genesis is not a new plan, but a plan devised in the 1990s and is part of the reason Chrysler sales have deteriorated. It was this flawed thinking that helped drive the company into bankruptcy. Fact: When asked in a recent arbitration to name any Genesis consolidations that resulted in more sales of Chrysler Corporation products after the consolidation the Dealer Development Manager of the Great Lakes Business Center failed to name even one. If you are not currently a Genesis dealer you must convince the arbitrator that, while it may benefit the dealer, there is absolutely no evidence that this plan is in Chrysler's best interest. It's best if you can show data from your state where consolidations have resulted in lower sales and market share for Chrysler. |
06-03-2010, 08:02 AM | #13 |
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There's no question that Chrysler's sales are heavily tilted toward fleet - there's a reason they stop reporting Total Retail Sales to the dealers.
Do you know who the source of this data is? It says DOD but I don't know that firm/organization. Concerning the report, it took me awhile to figure out the columns but I understand they're reporting that Chrysler's April Retail sales were actually down 7% but their Fleet sales were up 145% for a Total sales increase of 25%. |
06-03-2010, 11:22 AM | #14 |
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I was hoping you would know who "DOD" was! I am working on finding out who this is, I will get back with you when I find out.
Also, sorry about the columns. When I copied there were 4 column headings ( 1.Company, 2.Retail, 3.Fleet and 4.Combined) and all data was linear under the column headings, however when I pasted the data lined up the way you viewed it. (Therefore the rows are correct and the columns are correct, the spacing is the issue.) |
06-03-2010, 01:58 PM | #15 |
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The report came from Toyota, DOD is an acronym for the Distribution Operations Department of Toyota. They can compile the information from Bobit business media reports, which is one source of fleet sales on a monthlybasis, RL Polk for registrations as well as Wards automotive and automotive media services for sales.
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