Fiat Chrysler Sales Rise, Nissan Beats Estimates

Fiat Chrysler Sales Rise, Nissan Beats Estimates
Jennifer Surane
jennysurane
Keith Naughton
KeithNaughton
January 5, 2016 — 8:37 AM EST
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A Jeep Dealership Ahead Of Motor Vehicle Sales

Chrysler Group LLC Jeep Wrangler Rubicon vehicles sit for sale at a dealership in Louisville.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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Low gasoline prices spur consumer demand for pickups, SUVs
Automakers' final surge likely pushed annual sales to record

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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s December U.S. sales rose 13 percent on the back of gains for Jeep sport utility vehicles, as carmakers report monthly results expected to topple the annual American sales record set 15 years ago. Nissan Motor Co. did better than expected, while Ford, GM and Toyota missed estimates.

Fiat Chrysler sales reached 217,527 cars and light trucks in December, for a 69th straight monthly gain, the company said in a statement Tuesday. While a record total for the month, that increase fell short of the 19 percent average of 10 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Jeep deliveries increased 42 percent from a year earlier to 89,654, led by the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee.

Americans’ renewed love of pickups and SUVs, spurred by low gasoline prices, cheap credit, rising discounts and a strengthening labor market, boosted demand for Jeep’s growing lineup. In 2015, the brand debuted the Jeep Renegade in the U.S., one of five new vehicles in the subcompact SUV segment. Full-year Jeep sales rose 25 percent to 865,028.

Fiat Chrysler was expected to lead among those that report December sales Tuesday, but it was outdone by Nissan, which reported a 19 percent jump that beat the 16 percent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Nissan achieved its best-ever December in the U.S. by riding the wave of light-truck demand as gasoline prices hover around $2 a gallon. The company’s sales of trucks, minivans and sports utility vehicles, including its premium Infiniti brand, rose 44 percent. Sales of its Rogue compact SUV rose 78 percent, and the Murano mid-size utility vehicle jumped 62 percent.

The biggest U.S. and Asian automakers were all expected to report gains of at least 10 percent, but Ford and GM missed the mark. Ford Motor Co.’s light-vehicle sales rose 8.3 percent, compared with the 11 percent average estimate, while General Motors Co.’s grew 5.7 percent, missing the 10 percent average. Toyota Motor Corp. sales rose 11 percent, just shy of the 12 percent average.

Sales of Ford’s F-Series pickups jumped 15 percent as the trucks remained the top-selling vehicle line in America for the 34th consecutive year, with an annual total of 780,354 deliveries. Ford’s truck and sport utility vehicle models gained ground in December, while its car sales fell. The Focus compact plunged 26 percent, while the C-Max hybrid dropped 28 percent. Lincoln sales rose to a seven-year high on the strength of its MKC and MKX SUVs.

Industrywide sales are expected to exceed an 18 million sales rate for a record fourth straight month, helping make 2015 the best year ever for automakers, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Fiat Chrysler projected an 18.3 million pace, including medium and heavy-duty trucks, which typically account for at least 200,000 sales.

“We’re seeing all sorts of records fall,” said Jeff Schuster, an analyst for LMC Automotive in Southfield, Michigan. “And not only are we in record territory, it’s a much healthier industry than it was back in 2000” when the previous record was set at 17.4 million U.S. car and truck sales. Analysts project industrywide sales reached 17.5 million in last year.
Record Year

For the industry, 2015 record results would mark a sixth straight year of growing U.S. sales, the longest streak since World War II. The surge is owed in part to buyers who were soothed by job and wage growth, falling gasoline prices and carmakers who upgraded their lineups and used discounts and cut-rate financing to draw shoppers to showrooms.

“The economy is just so much better now,” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at AutoTrader.com. “Low gas prices put more money back into the household budget, you’ve had cheap and widely available credit and the automakers are putting out very compelling products, with a ton more in safety features, technology and far better fuel economy.”

The Federal Reserve signaled its own confidence in the economy when it raised interest rates for the first time since 2006 in December, moving away from its unprecedented stimulus program and promising any future increases would be gradual. Morgan Stanley’s Market Implied Pace of Rate Hikes Index suggests the Fed will carry out three 0.25 percentage-point rate increases in the next year.

“We expect a negligible impact on auto sales from last week’s increase,” Oliver Strauss, chief economist at the vehicle valuation research firm TrueCar Inc., said in a Dec. 22 statement. “The rate is still quite low amid an expanding economy.”

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