Chrysler Group got back into the incentive game on Wednesday, announcing a zero-percent interest deal for this month. Chrysler said the promotion covers minivans, the Chrysler Pacifica crossover, Dodge Ram light and heavy-duty pickups, the Dodge Dakota pickup and several sport utility vehicles, including the Dodge Durango, Jeep Liberty, Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Commander.
A sharp increase in fleet sales to rental car companies, corporations and the government was one reason for gains at Ford, GM and Chrysler. Fleet sales made up 39 percent of Ford's overall sales last month, compared to 28 percent of sales in all of last year, Pipas said. Dilts wouldn't break out Chrysler's fleet sales, but he said nonfleet sales were down for the month.
Dilts said automakers often try to boost slow January sales with fleet sales. Ford, GM and Chrysler sold 55,000 more vehicles to fleets last month compared to the same month last year, in part because of rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast, Pipas said. He said fleet sales will fall as the year goes on and predicted they will be flat or up slightly for all of this year.
The results were a bright spot for GM and Ford, which recently announced plans to lay off 60,000 workers over the next few years to get their North American operations profitable again. DaimlerChrysler also has announced plans to lay off 6,000 administrative staff, mostly in Germany.
Not all automakers had a strong January. Nissan Motor Co. said its overall sales were flat last month, with a small increase in car sales offset by a 4 percent decrease in truck and SUV sales.
RSS