Chrysler production notes
Chrysler produced just 605 Chrysler 200 Convertibles in November 2011, as the weather in its primary market gets colder; Fiat 500 Convertible production was also low, with 763 made. In contrast, the company made 9,818 200 sedans, 7,302 Avengers, and 4,636 Fiat 500 sedans.
A total of 735 Lancia Themas were built in November 2011, bringing the total production so far to 3,218. The car is positioned above the Chrysler 300, and is not available in North America, despite being built in Canada.
The other Chryslers built for other companies were the Lancia Grand Voyager, a pricey vehicle for Europe (871 made); the Volkswagen Routan minivan (1,421 made); and the Fiat Freemont version of the Dodge Journey, with around 4,800 made. So far, 28,939 Fiat Freemonts have been made, far more than the Fiat 500 total. Freemont sales are likely an order of magnitude above what the revised Journey’s sales would have been.
The mix of Dodge to Chrysler minivans has been decidedly in Dodge’s favor this year, 155,007 to 100,084, and November kept the 3:2 ratio.
Within the Belvidere triplets, Compass is the winner with 9,284 made, followed by Patriot (8,178) and, after a long gap, the soon to be cut Caliber (4,591), unpopular but close to final buildout.
Within the LX series, Charger took the vast majority of production (10,230), nearly that of both 300 (6,181) and Challenger (4,196) combined.
U.S. car production edged out Canada, 22,316 cars to 21,342, while Mexico, producing only the Fiat 500, took a distant third place. In trucks, the U.S. trounced both competing regions, with 78,608 trucks made versus 27,914 in Canada and 27,734 in Mexico. Looking at just the Ram, Warren outproduced Saltillo by 2:1.
Overall, production was up for every vehicle except the Dodge Caliber, which is in the process of being phased out, and Grand Cherokee, which has to share its line with the Durango now.
So far this year, production stands at 1.83 million; 2010 January-November production was 1.47 million. Trucks dominate with 1.37 million made versus 461,361 cars.
(Note: “trucks” vs “cars” goes along with EPA classifications. As such, Dodge Journey and Caravan are “trucks.”)
