At 200,000 units the Ram pickup is by far the best selling Group nameplate in 2010.
Chrysler Group today reported U.S. sales of 1,085,211 units, an increase of 17% in 2010 when compared with 2009 sales at the Fiat controlled automaker. Light-vehicle retail sales in the U.S. rose 11% during 2010 to 11.6 million units.
Particularly strong were truck sales at Jeep, plus 26% at 291,000, and Ram truck, up 9% at 213,000. U.S. light truck sales were up 18% to more than 5.8 million units during 2010, clearly also helping GM and Ford, the other members of the Detroit Three.
At almost 75% of sales, Chrysler Group remains at heart a truck company, making it vulnerable to rising fuel prices this year.
Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Caravan minivan sales, at more than 215,000in total, were also strong. Neither Ford nor GM competes in this segment, which is now closely split with Chrysler, the inventor of the minivan, by Honda’s Odyssey and Toyota’s Sienna.
“Chrysler Group 2010 sales of 1.1 million units are consistent with our sales objective that we presented in our Nov. 4, 2009 five-year business plan,” said Fred Diaz, President and Chief Executive Officer – Ram Truck Brand and Lead Executive for U.S. Sales in a statement.
Chrysler cancelled sales press conferences as it plummeted toward bankruptcy late in 2008 and has yet to resume them. CEO Sergio Marchionne is openly annoyed with media questions during quarterly earnings press conferences, which are still held.
Chrysler Group exceeded its forecasts through the first three quarters of 2010. Chrysler showed an operating profit of $565 million, net revenues of $31.2 billion and a reduction in net loss to $453 million.
Cash on hand was increased to more than $8.2 billion at the end of September, up from $5.9 billion at the end of 2009, which brings total available liquidity to more than $10.5 billion, including $2.3 billion that remains available to draw under loan agreements with U.S. Treasury and Canadian and Ontario governments.
Chrysler management is still considering an initial public offering in the second half of 2011 – if market conditions are favorable.
