Archive for the 'Inventories' Category
September 23rd, 2009 by DaveAdmin
Chrysler’s inventories managed to hit the “smallest five” list this month. While Toyota was almost completely cleaned out, with 12 days’ supply (11 with Lexus excluded), Chrysler finished with just 28 days’ inventory across all its brands and 21 days of inventory at its eponymous brand. All the other automakers on the five-lowest list were Japanese. Ford, in contrast, ended the month with 35 days’ supply, and GM ended with 39. These numbers are all far healthier than past numbers (usually around 40 days for the Japanese and over 60 for the Americans), but with production down, Chrysler dealers are having a hard time refilling their lots.
The only non-discontinued Chrysler models to have a high inventory were the Challenger (77 days, but just 3,400 units), Sprinter (49 days, 2,200 units), Wrangler (55 days, 11,900 units), and Ram (47 days, 31,600 units.) Ram has been suffering from a perception of low gas mileage (not borne out by comparisons with the Ford F-series) and a paucity of positive publicity and press.
Vehicles in surprisingly short supply include the PT Cruiser, with just 900 vehicles spread across the country for a mere six days’ supply; the Sebring, with 1,000 units and a ten-day supply; the Avenger, with just 500 units, or a three-day supply; the Compass, 200 units, four days; and Patriot, with 300 units, or three days. These numbers were current as of September 1, and are based on Automotive News’ reports.
July 24th, 2009 by DaveAdmin
Chrysler’s inventory has not been in such good shape for years, with a mere 71 days of supply on July 1 – at the depressed sales rates in effect during the bankruptcy. Overall, fewer than 200,000 Chrysler vehicles were parked at dealerships and corporate lots, or in transit, on July 1.
Numerically, supplies were led by the Ram, accounting for one quarter of all inventory – but that represents 95 days’ supply, almost lean by 2008 standards. The next highest inventory level was held by the Caliber, with 12,800 units; the 2010s are on their way, with production to start in January, but Federal new-car subsidies may eliminate the 90-day Caliber supply before then.
The PT Cruiser is the most plentiful vehicle by days’ supply, with 6,700 sitting on lots; that’s enough for 151 days at the current rate. One may wonder why Chrysler has green-lighted further PT production, but two rumors may explain it: the plant has an overstock of certain parts, already bought and paid for; and one new source claims a diesel will be planted in the PT to boost gas mileage. While that investment seems likely, one never knows.
The second most plentiful vehicle in terms of days’ supply (excluding the 100 Vipers) is the Mercedes/Freightliner Sprinter, with just 3,500 Dodge-labelled examples representing 145 days’ supply.
Any shortages on dealers lots appear to be purely local phenomena, with no less than 33 days’ supply of any particular vehicle (the 33-day car is the Dodge Challenger, with just 1,800 on lots or in transit). Dealers have plenty of relatively fuel-efficient Patriots (10,200), Compasses (4,300), minivans (over 22,000 split between Dodge and Chrysler), and Sebring/Avengers to sell. There may be specific model shortages within those nameplates.
Chrysler will be resurrecting its factories during July and August, producing short runs of 2009 models before moving on to the 2010 model year.
June 16th, 2009 by DaveAdmin
Chrysler inventories fell during its bankruptcy period, with all factories shut down, but were still high by import standards – and close to GM’s inventories. This data was provided by Automotive News, covers the United States, and was current as of June 1.
Overall, Chrysler ended the month with 86 days’ supply, or 260,400 vehicles. Dodge trucks were the most plentiful (97 days) followed by Chrysler cars (93 days), though since many truck sales are to fleets and there were few if any fleet buys during the shutdown period, those figures might be somewhat misleading. Dodge had 68,700 Rams in stock on June 1 – compared with 42,600 Doge cars and 63,900 Jeeps.
The largest inventory for a true Chrysler vehicle continues to be the PT Cruiser, with 158 days’ supply – beaten only by the Mercedes-built Sprinter. The lowest supply of a currently produced vehicle was for the Challenger, at 28 days (2,900 units); it was followed by Wrangler, with 38 days. Durango and Pacficia continue to be sold down, with just 500 Pacificas left and 2,800 Durangos, and 1,500 Aspens.
A plentiful supply of minivans remains in the U.S. (though Canadian supply is said to be constricted), with 16,000 Caravans and 18,800 Town & Countries.
The effects of closing dealers’ fire sales will likely not be seen in these figures. Days’ supply must be taken with a grain of salt since sales were artificially depressed by lack of fleet sales, and increased by people hoping to get a bargain from bankruptcy and those dealers which were able to sell off vehicles at low prices before June 1.
May 15th, 2009 by DaveAdmin
Chrysler had 114 days of inventory on May 1, according to Automotive News, at current sales rates. The figures were roughly similar for each of the three brands; there were more days of inventory for cars than trucks (132 vs 109 days), though government figures and pundits repeatedly talk about how Chrysler’s problem is having too many trucks.
With minivan sales stalled in April, Caravan and Town & Country supplies seem especially high. There were 47,000 minivans in inventory in the United States on May 1, good for around 86 days if sales remained stable.
Overall, the highest supplies were of Mercedes imports – the Crossfire (300 vehicles being a 262 day supply) and Sprinter (4,700 units equating to over a year’s supply).
The largest domestic supplies (in terms of days) were of the Avenger and Sebring, which achieve decent gas mileage but have been savaged by the media. Under 13,000 Avengers equated to 242 days’ supply. Other vehicles with 200 days’ supply or more were the Compass and Patriot, which ironically provide good gas mileage for their size and niche. The 2009 Patriot has gotten numerous positive reviews .
These numbers were dwarfed by the Dodge Ram, with 83,500 trucks sitting on lots – but they are a quick seller so the supply, in days, works out to 121.
The vehicles in short supply are the Challenger, with just 5,400 on lots, the sold-out Magnum, the Wrangler (63 days or 22,500 units), and the Journey, with 87 days’ supply.
BMW, Hyundai, Subaru, and Toyota all had 60 or fewer days’ supply on their lots. Chrysler did have a smaller supply than Volkswagen and was similar to GM.
February 4th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press says the company can survive with or without Fiat and intends to present two alternative viability plans to the federal government on February 17.
Company executives did say the alliance is the preferred route and added that discussions with other potential partners have been suspended.
The government has to approve a Chrysler plan in order for the car company to receive the remaining $3 billion from its original request for $7 billion in loans. Press commented “we don’t have to have a partner or Fiat to gain the $3 billion.”
The proposed Chrysler-Fiat alliance has received a generally positive response from the investment community as the best option for survival as it provides much-needed new product that Chrysler may not have the resources to develop on its own.
February 3rd, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
Manufacturers sold 656,976 cars and light trucks in January, the lowest total since December 1981 and 387,678 fewer than January 2008. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 9.57 million units is a figure not seen since June 1982. Last January’s SAAR was 15.37 million, 5.8 million sales more.
Hampered by consumer doubts about its survival and a lack of capital to fund deals, Chrysler led the plunge, coming in 54.8 percent short of its sales a year ago. The deficit was enough to drop Chrysler to fifth among the Big Six, behind General Motors, Toyota, Ford and Honda and 8,273 sales ahead of Nissan North America.
The Dodge Ram remained the only Chrysler vehicle to make it into the Top Twenty in sales, coming in at No. 9, and the full-size pickup lost its accustomed third place in the truck segment to the Honda CR-V.
The Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Caravan dropped to third and fourth in the minivan segment as the Toyota Sienna scored a surprise victory with a sold win over the second-place Honda Odyssey. No minivans made it to the Top Twenty in January.
The Jeep Wrangler was the best-selling traditonal, truck-based SUV.
The Dodge Journey continues to be a bright spot for Chrysler, outselling the Ford Flex by 25 percent in January.
A slowdown in rental sales put a big damper on Chrysler’s numbers and it did the same for GM. Both companies said January fleet sales were down 80 percent while Ford cited a 65 percent decline.
With low gas prices, it’s no surprise that Americans rapidly went back to their preferred consumption patterns, something the federal government might want to consider as it examines its mandates for the auto industry. Truck sales captured the majority of the business and sales of small, fuel-efficient cars got hammered.
While Chrysler took the biggest hit, there was plenty of pain to go around. General Motors’ sales were down 48.9 percent and Ford finished the month 40.3 percent shy of its 2008 numbers. Sales of domestic brand cars and trucks accounted for 42.5 percent of the market in January 2009, a big tumble for their 51.1 percent share last January. Sales of Chrysler, Ford and General Motors domestic brands, combined, were just 30,377 units more than GM sold by itself in January 2008.
Toyota took a big hit last month; sales were off 31.7 percent. Honda had another losing month with a 27.9 percent shortfall and Nissan came 29.7 shy of matching its year-ago mark. Mitsubishi sales fell 34.5 percent and Mazda came up with a 27.3 percent deficit. Suzuki sales declined by 48.7 percent and Isuzu wound down the hours with a total of 165 sales.
Subaru and the Korean automakers bucked the trend by posting improved sales. Subaru was 8 percent ahead at the end of the month with strong sales of the Forester and Hyundai and Kia improved 14.3 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.
The Europeans were bandaging their wounds, too. Volvo got whacked with a 63.8 percent drop, much worse than Saab’s 46.1 percent miss or Mercedes’ 42.9 percent tumble. BMW took a 15.5 percent hit and its Mini brand got knocked back with a 15.4 sales decline. Volkswagen saw an 11.6 percent fall in sales of its name-brand car and a 26.4 percent trip in sales of its upscale Audi brand. Porsche took it on the chin as a 55.2 percent plunge in sales of its car overwhelmed a small, 6.1 percent drop in Cayenne sales and left the marque in the red by 36.1 percent.
As you can see from the Top Twenty, there weren’t many changes at the top. The F-Series is still No. 1 and the Camry is still the best-selling car. The Chevy Malibu starts the year as best-selling American car. Lexus remained the best-selling luxury brand.
February should prove interesting. Both Chrysler Financial and GMAC have received major infusions of cash, making it easier for dealers to get sales financed, which should help some. Both Chrysler and GM are due to present their viability plans on February 17, by which time, Chrysler may have its alliance with Fiat SpA and GM may have an idea of how many brands it really intends to keep.
January’s Top Twenty
Ford F-Series
Chevrolet Silverado
Toyota Camry
Toyota Corolla/Matrix
Honda Accord
Honda Civic
Nissan Altima
Honda CR-V
Dodge Ram Pickup
Chevrolet Malibu
Hyundai Sonata
Ford Escape
Ford Fusion
Toyota Prius
Toyota RAV4
GMC Sierra
Ford Focus
Toyota Tacoma
Toyota Tundra
Honda Pilot
January 22nd, 2009 by DaveAdmin
Chrysler had the fifth largest inventories of any automaker in December 2008, according to an Automotive News listing. Most vehicles were at 100-140 days’ supply. The good news came in the form of the Sebring, with just 88 days’ supply; Aspen was sold down to 90 days and Durango to 64, with production already stopped.
The Challenger had a surprisingly high 69 days’ supply, with 6,900 floating around, perhaps largely in transit or being showcased by dealers; Viper also showed 68 days’ supply. Dakota, whose sales fell to practically nothing in November, was down to just 71 days’ supply, with 4,600 pickups on the ground. Commander also had a surprisingly low 66 days’ supply, with its sibling, Grand Cherokee, down to 80 days.
Countering these reasonable supplies – which were around the average for some import companies – were over 200 days’ supply for Avenger and Caliber, with 194 days for Patriot and 173 days for Compass. Chrysler apparently planned for gas prices to stay higher for just a little longer; with all the rhetoric about Detroit not supplying fuel efficient cars quickly enough, it is interesting to see the fuel efficient cars not being sold.
Corporate staples were in high but not insane supply, with 99 days of Caravan, 97 days of Town & Country (both down from November), 107 days of Charger, and 126 days of Ram.
While Cerberus was quick to cut shifts and factories, falling customer demand has proven to be even quicker. However, inventories are generally lower than they were in the final years of Daimler ownership.
