AUBURN HILLS- Chrysler Group LLC starts March the way it has every month for nearly three years, with monthly sales gains.
Led by a 30 percent increase in Dodge brand sales, the Auburn Hills-based automaker today reported vehicle sales increased 4 percent last month compared to February 2012, just topping 139,000 cars and trucks sold. It marks Chrysler’s 35th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains and best February sales since 2008.
“In spite of a cautious ramp up of some of our most popular products which limited inventory last month, we still managed to record our strongest February sales in five years and our 35th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales growth,” said Reid Bigland, head of U.S. sales, in a statement. “Looking ahead, we expect to get our inventory gaps corrected over the next 90 days resulting in additional products contributing to our growth.”
February was Dodge’s best February sales in six years and its 21st-consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains.
Four Dodge brand vehicles set sales records in February, including the Dart compact sedan, Avenger mid-size sedan, Journey full-size crossover and Challenger muscle car.
Besides Dodge, sales of all of Chrysler's other brands were flat or down, showing the automaker's sales levels may finally be leveling out. Ram and Fiat brand sales were each up 2 percent compared to February 2012; Chrysler brand sales were down 7 percent; and Jeep sales were down 16 percent.
Overall, the February sales put the stamp on a pretty good week for Chrysler, which on Thursday announced it will hire 1,250 new workers and invest $374 million to build fuel-efficient eight- and nine-speed transmissions in Indiana.
Chrysler sold 256,746 vehicles through February, a 9 percent increase from the same time period last year.
Top five Chrysler models by units sold in February:
1. Ram pickup- 23,289
2. Chrysler 200- 11,446
3. Dodge Grand Caravan-10,415
4. Dodge Charger- 10,301
5. Jeep Wrangler- 10,091
Top five Chrysler models by year-over-year sales in February (units sold):
1. Dodge Avenger- 52% (9,980)
2. Dodge Charger- 41% (10,301)
3. Dodge Durango- 38% (4,749)
4. Jeep Compass- 36% (3,776)
5. Dodge Challenger- 34% (4,911)
Auto analyst research firms TrueCar.com and LMC Automotive predict U.S. vehicle sales in February to increase about 6 percent from a year ago to 1.2 million.
LMC Automotive predicts retail sales this month to reach 931,100 units, which would be 9 percent higher than in February 2012 and would translate to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 12.1 million units, up from last February’s 11.7 million unit pace, but weaker than the 13.1 million-unit retail pace in January 2013.
Chrysler is the first of the Detroit Three to report its February sales. General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and non-domestic automakers are scheduled to release their results later today.
Check back to MLive.com/auto later today for more information of February sales.
Email Michael Wayland: MWayland@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MikeWayland
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