Sales of Jeep sport utility vehicles and Ram trucks powered Chrysler Group LLC to its best November in more than a decade, with the automaker again outpacing the industry in what shaped up to be another solid month.
Officials said Chrysler Group’s U.S. sales were up 20 percent in November. General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. both recorded a 7 percent gain. Ford Motor Co. saw sales fall 2 percent, as the company is still dealing with low inventory of its top-selling F-150.
A big part of Chrysler’s success in November — and all year, for that matter — has been the strong performance of the Toledo-built Jeep Cherokee.
For the third straight month, the Cherokee was Jeep’s best-selling model. Even more impressive was its place as Chrysler’s second-best-selling vehicle overall in November, trailing only the Ram pickup.
The whole Jeep brand has been hot — sales of the Toledo-built Wrangler were up 16 percent last month — but analysts say the Cherokee is particularly well-positioned.
“The Jeep Cherokee hit the nail on the head with a strong new product with perfect market timing. Consumers want the ride height, perceived safety and utility of an SUV, but they don't want to take an MPG hit,” said Akshay Anand, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book. “The compact crossover segment is perfect for that, and Jeep frankly did very well with the Cherokee from a product as well as marketing standpoint.”
Through November, Jeep has sold nearly 161,000 Cherokees this year. Total Jeep sales are up 44 percent to 629,074 vehicles.
IHS Automotive said one reason for Jeep’s gains this year is an increase in brand loyalty. The firm said brand loyalty through the year’s first nine months was up 16 percent for Jeep. Also doing well were Maserati, Buick, and Lincoln.
“New products launched by these makes, including the Maserati Ghibli, Jeep Cherokee, and Lincoln MKC have brought existing owners back to the same-brand showrooms at an exceptional rate, leading to year-over-year sales and market share gains,” IHS analyst Tom Libby noted.
Kelley Blue Book estimated that 25 to 30 percent of November’s new vehicle sales happened over the holiday thanks to a flurry of Black Friday promotions. Because the holiday came late in the month, buyers also benefited from dealers’ usual month-end sales push.
The TrueCar.com auto pricing site predicts total November U.S. sales will reach 1.3 million, up around 4 percent from a year ago and the fastest pace since August.
Sales are on track to end the year at around 16.5 million, said Jesse Toprak, a senior analyst with Cars.com. That’s up 6 percent from 2013.
In November, buyers looking for really good deals could still find outgoing 2014 models, while others snapped up 2015 models that are just arriving in dealerships, like the new Ford Mustang and Toyota Highlander.
The sales were fueled by deals, like zero-percent financing on new Chevrolets and a $3,500 credit on a new BMW. But automakers still made healthy profits as buyers loaded their vehicles with extras like navigation.
As of mid-November, buyers were spending an average of $30,874 per vehicle, or $165 more than the previous record of $30,709 in October, according to consulting firms J.D. Power and LMC Automotive.
Low gas prices accelerated a trend toward SUVs. Gas prices fell 23 cents in November to a four-year low of $2.76 per gallon, according to Triple A. In addition to the big gain by the Cherokee, sales of the new Nissan Rogue small SUV jumped 44 percent.
The Honda CR-V saw its best November ever, with sales up 38 percent to more than 32,000. Even big SUVs saw gains; sales of the eight-passenger Lincoln Navigator jumped 88 percent.
Cars struggled to get noticed. Ford Fusion sales dropped 11 percent, while Nissan Altima sales were down 7 percent. For the most part, only new cars like Volkswagen’s Golf subcompact and Chrysler’s 200 midsize sedan saw sales increases.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134 or on Twitter @BladeAutoWriter.
First Published December 3, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
