Four cylinder cars are hot - Chrysler’s are not
The hottest type of car now seems to be the small four-cylinder sedan; Neons have tripled in value since the spring, and don’t even ask about Metros. Ford and Toyota are both converting truck factory space to build small cars in the United States, and Minis are flying off the lots as soon as they come in.
So what about the Chrysler candidates?
The Sebring and Avenger, which both have four cylinder engines as standard equipment, with decent gas mileage, are both down by over 40% from August 2007. The PT Cruiser, which is only available with four cylinders, is down 65%, albeit partly because of the cheap seats and partly because we all know it’s going away soon. The new triplets, though, which replaced the Neon - the newly hot again Neon, the Neon that you can barely find used, the Neon that’s starting at $3,000 in so-so condition on the used car lots - the new triplets are all down in sales.
Compass and Patriot are down 56% and 21%, respectively, but one can argue that we all knew about the upcoming interior redesign and most people held off. (Of course the average person on the street not only doesn’t know about the redesign, but doesn’t know what the Patriot is, much less the Compass. Autoblog readers already know that being non-Wrangler Jeeps, they’re worthless.)
The Caliber was not really rumored to have any changes, and it has a variety of engines that enable it to get quite respectable mileage. The result: down 56%.
There was bright news for Chrysler. Squad sales no doubt propped up Charger, which came in with an increase in sales, neatly matching Avenger and Sebring combined (and coming close to the Compass/Caliber/Patriot triplets). Magnum’s gone, but Minivans are up, with Caravan holding roughly steady and Town & Country continuing its climb - now beating the Caravan in sales, and hopefully beating the Japanese minis, too. Journey checked in with a few more sales than the “dying” PT, and between the two of them, Toluca is running pretty well. The Ram was off 23%, which means it’s gaining against the F-series Fords. Though Dodge is probably including chassis cabs in there, that’s a niche business - considering that even with the slump, nearly 25,000 Rams moved last month. (In case you’re wondering, Ram outsold the entire Chrysler brand; and Ram outsold the entire Jeep brand.)
That’s the good news. Across the board, other models are doing terribly poorly. The “less awful” sales spots were reserved for the Patriot, Wrangler, and Liberty - all Jeeps, you may have noticed - though Grand Cherokee, Commander, and Compass were clobbered. The 300 plunged by over 5,000 units, or 59%, not nearly compensated for by the Challenger’s 2,077 sales.
Here are Dodge’s top sellers:
#1. Ram. 24,974 units… after a 23% fall.
#2. Town & Country. 10,182 units, up 15%!
#3. Grand Caravan. 9,422 units, down 1%.
#4. Charger. 8,102 units, up 3%.
#5. Wrangler. 6,469 sales, down 32%.
Comments: Yes, Charger is selling well - a big gas-guzzling sedan (admittedly it doesn’t guzzle as badly as many competitors of similar size or power) near the end of its model run.
Wrangler includes the Unlimited model, but again, it’s one of the worst-mileage vehicles in the lineup - albeit similar in mileage to similar 4WD vehicles like the Toyota FJ Cruiser.
I am waiting for Bill Cawthon’s analysis over on the news page.
I think people are forgoing Rams (and trading in Rams) to purchase the Charger. A lot of people bought the trucks over the past 5-10 years and made them fast because trucks were the new cool thing. Now with gas prices they can get the same speed but 10 more mpg in a car that still makes them feel cool.
I find it odd that Neon prices have tripled sense spring. My parents traded off their 2002 SXT back in Jan when gas was still relativity cheap. Got Blue Book, and EXACTLY what they owed. $3,000 for a 5 year old good condition 71,000 mile car that averaged 32mpg? If they would have waited to get their Commander, they would have gotten $6,000 for the Neon, and gotten a better deal on the Commander. But oh well.
I don’t think the Caliber is all that bad. Grandmother bought a new 07 R/T back in March for $19,000. Still worth $17,000.
But also mid-90’s Minivans are also holding their value amazingly well. I’m impressed that a 95 Grand Caravan is worth $3,000 and is in high demand.
Chrysler has ZERO competitive small cars. None of the cars out of Belvedere get over 30+ mpg on the highway with an auto (who is going to buy a manual). That is a travesty- I can’t believe that all they did for 2009 was spray foam in the cabins to quiet engine noise and partially redesign the interior of the Compass/Patriot. I was expecting retuning of the CVT and engines for much better gas mileage. How can the Avenger/Sebring with the 4 speed automatic and the larger 2.4L world engine get better highway gas milage then the Caliber’s 2.0L world engine and CVT?? They have no competitive cars that people want to buy right now.
I currently have a 06 PT Cruiser and I am lucky to get 25-27 mpg on the highway and in highway/city driving I average about 20. My Town and Country minivan gets almost the same mpg as the PT. The PT is not a feul efficient car. My minivan’s lease is up in Feb 09. I will most likely buy another (can’t lease anymore) one or if Chrysler offers me a good deal to buy the lease out I may take it- only because I need the extra space for the family. My father is a retired Chrysler UAW worker and I have always been loyal to the company the supported him and my family growing up, but I can honestly say I will not be getting a Chrysler product to replace my PT. I travel for work with my personal car and need a more fuel efficient car then what Chrylser currently offers. It will not be a Chrysler but will be built by UAW workers- if GM keeps continuing their discounts the Vibe is looking really good to me right now.
I think it is too late for Chrysler- they need better small cars before 2010 when the Nissan and Chery cars come out. Selling off the Viper unit is just the beginning- cash will run out before they can fix things. I think they will honestly try and really believe they don’t have current intentions of selling pieces of the company off, but I really think the cash will run out and they will have no choice.
Part of the problem is the advertising. Patriot gets great mpg, but you don’t really hear about it. Same with Sebring and Avenger.
Charger is not really a gas guzzler: real world economy is right at 30 mpg on the hwy for the HEMI, a little more for the V-6’s. Not bad at all for a safe, roomy, great performing car. V-6 Accords and Camrys aren’t much higher in hwy mpg.
They do need a little sedan very badly; and I think they could really benefit from something to compete with the Prius and the upcoming $18,000 Insight.
Can’t deny that every other automaker is advertising “30 MPG!!!” and Chrysler… doesn’t seem to be.
The new Ram gives me hope for the future of this company. It has a great interior and is more fuel efficient, and seems to be better quality overall. Those are exactly the issues Chrysler needs to address to get back on track.
They could do a little better with some of the components they already have. Kia and Hyundai are getting 32 mpg with essentially the same 4cyl in the Optima, Sonota. Using the 62TE automatic with the four would help out the Sebring and Avenger. Does there need to be a V-6 Avenger? Maybe they should concentrate on the value end of the market, four cyls, present a clear image to the consumer and try to undercut Camry on price and features.
Offering the diesel in the Wrangler would spark increased sales with that product for sure. Offering a V-6 Ram “Miser” might be a good option. Chrysler has a good opportunity left for trucks
–with Ford and Toyota scaling back production and offering warmed over models for 09, it may help the Ram a bit.
A better case can be made for the mpg of the Caliber/ PT, etc. If you compare them to SUV’s, they have great mpg. So for someone trading out of an Explorer or a 4Runner, they are great options. If you are cross-shopping a Prius, or a Cobalt XFE, then yes, the numbers don’t seem that impressive.
There are so many great opportunities available to Chrysler–if they used a Nissan platform, like KIA once used the Mazda 323 platform, engineer a small sedan, keeping costs to a mimimum in an intelligent way, like the Renault / Dacia Logan design, they could easily have a winner. They could easily build that in Mexico or the US and make money on it. The Logan uses a flat windshield and the left and right mirrors are interchangeable. It is a clever and a tough little car. People want small cars to be reliable, and have decent features and good quality–not unlike what Valiant and Dart used to be. Such a car could be the key to selling in Latin America, elsewhere–not a Chery design that could hurt Chrysler’s reputation for quality. It will save money to use Nissan innards, rather than spending billions to teach Chery how to make a world-class car. They could make their Prius-fighter on the same platform, they could make the Hornet on the same platform, to be the Mini / Fiesta fighter. Fiesta will be a premium car–that is what Chrysler has to watch out for. Competing with Aveo or Yaris or Accent is easy, but not very rewarding–selling cars with the better profit margins of Mini or Fiesta will be tougher, but necessary for Chrysler’s survival. It has to make well-designed small cars, with impeccable reliability and quality.
Remember the Horizion and Omni miser,s? Shadow/Sundance Americas Why cant Chrysler do the same thing Chevy is doing? Offer a Caliber and Patriot/Compass fuel miser. 2.0L engine, 5speed manual, crank windows etc. And they should advertise the @$#%& out of them! Then maybe get the hybrid unit from the Aspen/Durango and put it in the Ram now where it should be in the 1st place. Also be the 1st to make a hybrid minivan. Scott I know what you mean, I had a 01 2.4 5speed Pt, I was lucky to see 24mpg. My 08 Sebring 3.5 6speed auto gets 30mpg on the freeway! Hell my 06 T&C getts better milage that my PT got. Now why not advertise that? I know for a fact that jeep makes Wrangler diesel for overseas I have seen magizine articles about them, why they are not here is anyone,s guess?
Or bring back the electric minivan!
Dave, the hybrid unit will be in the Ram next fall so no worries there. I also think that the hybrid system will make it’s way to all the LX cars, I figure the cars would get an even greater increase in mpg than the SUVs, say like 60% better instead of 42%
I also agree that chrysler is going to have to produce a hybrid minivan really soon if they want to stay ahead of the curve and on top of the minivan market.