The numbers blew right past even the most optimistic predictions. The average forecast from a group of industry and financial analysts polled by Bloomberg said Chrysler sales would rise 12.3%. Jesse Toprak of Cars.com came the closest with a forecast of 16.2%.
In contrast to Chrysler's big jump, Ford sales were up just 0.4% and General Motors' volume dropped by 1.2%.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles claimed the top three growth spots in August as Maserati, Jeep and Ram outperformed the industry by a large margin. Fiat was one of the month's big losers due to a late-July recall that froze 500Ls on dealer lots for the month of August.
Going beyond the percentages, Chrysler Group also posted the largest increase in volume.
Chrysler's market share rose from 11.0% in August 2013 to 12.5% last month. Year-to-date (YTD) share rose an entire point, to 12.4%, compared to the first eight months of last year. Ford and General Motors both lost both monthly and YTD share.
Of course, Jeep is the big story with another big month. In the month of August, Jeep was the best-selling utility brand in the industry. This includes crossovers as well as traditional sport-utility vehicles. Jeep was also the seventh best-selling brand, quite a feat for a pure SUV line: every brand above it includes cars and other light trucks.
| CUV/SUV SALES BY BRAND | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONTHLY | YEAR-TO-DATE | ||||
| Rank | Brand | August | Rank | Brand | Jan-Aug |
| 1 | Jeep | 68,766 | 1 | Ford | 475,576 |
| 2 | Ford | 61,676 | 2 | Jeep | 461,156 |
| 3 | Toyota | 60,416 | 3 | Toyota | 452,357 |
| 4 | Chevrolet | 47,397 | 4 | Chevrolet | 373,803 |
| 5 | Honda | 45,926 | 5 | Honda | 297,985 |
| 6 | Nissan | 37,169 | 6 | Nissan | 243,725 |
| 7 | GMC | 25,930 | 7 | GMC | 175,836 |
| 8 | Subaru | 24,669 | 8 | Subaru | 154,639 |
| 9 | Dodge | 14,912 | 9 | Dodge | 106,903 |
| 10 | Hyundai | 14,568 | 10 | Kia | 103,877 |
| 11 | Kia | 14,488 | 11 | Hyundai | 103,332 |
| 12 | Lexus | 14,316 | 12 | BMW | 86,759 |
| 13 | Mazda | 12,620 | 13 | Lexus | 85,698 |
| 14 | Buick | 10,667 | 14 | Mazda | 82,935 |
| 15 | Acura | 10,484 | 15 | Buick | 73,793 |
| 16 | BMW | 9,879 | 16 | Acura | 73,375 |
| 17 | Mercedes | 8,969 | 17 | Mercedes | 71,797 |
| 18 | Cadillac | 8,080 | 18 | Cadillac | 55,892 |
| 19 | Audi | 6,444 | 19 | Audi | 41,818 |
| 20 | Lincoln | 4,720 | 20 | Land Rover | 35,318 |
| 21 | Land Rover | 4,489 | 21 | Infiniti | 34,119 |
| 22 | Infiniti | 4,187 | 22 | Lincoln | 30,135 |
| 23 | Mitsubishi | 4,003 | 23 | Mitsubishi | 29,902 |
| 24 | Volkswagen | 2,837 | 24 | Volkswagen | 23,103 |
| 25 | Porsche | 2,454 | 25 | Porsche | 15,691 |
| 26 | Volvo | 2,110 | 26 | Volvo | 15,657 |
In YTD sales, Jeep is 14,420 sales behind Ford but if Jeep can keep up the pace, it could be the No. 1 SUV brand by the end of October.
Chrysler Group's strong suit is trucks and it played its cards just right as buyer interests turned toward crossovers and SUVs. Last month, Chrysler sold more light trucks than any other automaker except General Motors. It also sold more SUVs than anyone except General Motors with its four brands, though if you compare the total of Jeep and Dodge to Chevrolet and GMC, Chrysler's the winner.
Even though the Ram pickup got knocked down to fifth in the monthly volume standings due to all-time record sales of the Honda Accord, it's still fourth in the YTD ranks and has the strongest growth of any full-size pickup.
The Ram ProMaster outsold the new Ford Transit and the Nissan NV and it's not far behind the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter in Euro-style van sales.
The Chrysler Town & Country is the best-selling minivan for the first eight months of the year and was the best-seller in August, as well.
While the Chrysler 200 is still building sales and share, it's worth noting that it was the second-fastest-growing car in the mid-size segment during the June to August period. Only Honda's big August spike kept the 200 out of first place.
Fiat 500 sales are in line with the market, which is moving away from the smallest cars. Excluding the Countryman, which is considered a light truck, the Cinquecento is outselling the total of Mini car models in both monthly and YTD figures. It's also outselling every Scion model as well as the Toyota Yaris.
An airbag recall at the end of July is responsible for the Fiat 500L's low August sales. The recall included all the units in dealer inventory.
Keeping it all in the family, Maserati set another all-time North American sales record with 1,274 sales (1,233 of those sales were in the U.S.). U.S. growth was an industry leading 278.2%.
