
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 |
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