Michigan: Jeep sales last year topped 1 million for the first time, as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s rugged brand rode a wave of consumer demand for sport-utility vehicles, including its Cherokee and Grand Cherokee, fuelled by lower gasoline prices.
Global sales advanced 39 percent to 1.02 million, the company said in an e-mailed statement. That was led by 692,348 deliveries in the US, a 41 percent increase from a year earlier, making it the fastest-growing major auto brand in the US market, where gas prices are at their lowest since 2009. Jeep has increased sales globally and the US for five consecutive years.
Sergio Marchionne, Fiat Chrysler’s chief executive officer, said at last year’s Detroit auto show that Jeep sales would exceed the 1 million milestone in 2014. At the same time, brand CEO Mike Manley said reaching that goal would be a “stretch” and was more realistic for 2015. In 2009, Manley forecast about global sales of 800,000 Jeeps for 2014. “Coming in at just over a million is clearly an amazing result,” Manley said. “I’ve just been very pleased with the way the entire portfolio has performed.”
Jeep global sales have soared more than fourfold since 2009, buoyed by well-received new products and demand for SUVs. The popularity of the new Cherokee, which sold 178,508 in its first full year in the US, helped the brand reach its goal sooner than Manley anticipated. The SUV also helped Fiat Chrysler to gain the most market share of any major automaker. The company, created by the merger of Fiat SpA and Chrysler Group LLC, increased its sales in the US by 16 percent last year, lifting its market share to 12.7 percent from 11.5 percent in 2013, according to researcher Autodata Corp. The automaker now based in London moved its listing to the New York Stock Exchange from Milan in October.
The Cherokee name returned to the US market in late 2013 after last being used for a Jeep model in 2001. Fiat Chrysler is expanding Jeep’s US lineup this year with the subcompact Renegade, and adding production in Europe, Brazil and China, the world’s largest auto market. Jeep plans to introduce a refreshed Grand Cherokee this year as well, Manley said.
The Renegade goes on sale in the US by the end of March. The vehicle started deliveries in Europe in November, selling about 9,000 models in the region’s main markets, Manley said.
Bloomberg
