Fiat sales/dealer top Dodge, Ram combined
While there are few Fiat dealers out there, the ones that managed to open up are still doing a brisk trade. Sales per dealer (all figures are for the U.S. only) for the Fiat brand fell from 40 to 28 from September to October, but remain higher than Dodge and Ram combined (with 26 sales/dealer). Jeep managed 17 sales per dealer, while Chrysler tagged along at a mere ten, lower than Cadillac, Volvo, Porsche, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Subaru, or a plethora of other brands.
Even with Fiat in the picture, Mini steamed along with 56 sales per dealer — up from 41 last month.
Combined, the average Chrysler dealer — with all brands but Fiat — could boast just 53 sales per month, or the same as a standalone Kia dealer, and less than BMW, Hyundai, Mercedes, Nissan, Lexus, Honda, or Hyundai standalones. That number is close, however, to Ford-Lincoln dealerships at 55 sales per month.
Even after a controversial and botched round of dealership closings, the domestic companies still have far more dealerships than import brands, including many in isolated areas with relatively few sales. Toyota, the top selling brand (with Scion) per-dealer, has just 1,240 dealerships, according to Automotive News. Chrysler has roughly 2,100 dealerships selling all three brands (this number is an approximation). General Motors, which appears to be back on track to be America’s largest seller, has 3,091 Chevrolet dealerships (as well as 2,124 for Buick, 1,770 for GMC, and 950 for Cadillac). Ford has a stunning 3,193 dealerships, around 900 of which also sell Lincoln.
Automotive News also shows that Chrysler has moved rapidly to its Genesis plan, with all dealerships selling all vehicles. At the end of 2010, just 100 dealers sold Dodge and Ram alone; only 27 standalone Jeep shops and two Chrysler standalones were left. (The “standalone” reference only regards other Chrysler brands, and some could be part of multibrand dealerships, e.g. Jeep-Hyundai.)
