Chrysler December sales rise

Chrysler Group LLC (CGC), the automaker being acquired by Fiat SpA, said December US sales rose 5,7 percent, extending a streak of monthly gains to 45, while falling short of analysts’ estimates. Chrysler deliveries increased to 161 007 cars and light trucks, the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based company said on Friday in a statement. The average of six analyst estimates in a survey by Bloomberg News was for an 8.4 percent increase.

Turin, Italy-based Fiat said January 1 it had reached a US$4,35 billion deal with a union trust to buy all Chrysler stock it doesn’t already own.

US automakers’ breadth of offerings are drawing more buyers to brands as diverse as Dodge, Chrysler Group’s value line, and General Motors Co (GM)’s Cadillac luxury marque. US car and light truck sales in December are projected to climb 3,8 percent to 1,41 million, the average of nine estimates. That would push deliveries for the full year to more than 15,6 million, the most since 2007.

“Our Jeep and Ram Truck brands had a strong finish led by the all-new 2014 Jeep Cherokee and the Ram pickup truck, Motor Trend’s 2014 Truck of the Year,” Reid Bigland, Chrysler’s head of US sales said in the statement.

“Sales of the new Cherokee topped 15 000 units in December as our newest SUV continues its solid sales performance out of the gate.”
Cherokee climbed 48 percent from November to 15 038 in its third month in the market, helping Chrysler extend its streak of year-over-year sales gains. Deliveries of Ram pickups gained 11 percent from a year earlier to 33 405, and sales of Town & Country minivans rose 5 percent to 9 737.

Fiat announced a deal with a United Auto Workers retiree medical trust to buy its 41,5 percent of Chrysler for US$3,65 billion and have Chrysler contribute an additional US$700 million toward former union workers’ health-care costs. Together, Fiat and Chrysler will be the world’s seventh-largest automaker with about 4 million sales a year globally.

The US market probably ended 2013 with an annualized sales rate adjusted for seasonal trends of 15,8 million, the average of 14 December estimates, up from 15,2 million a year earlier.

November’s pace of 16,4 million was the fastest since February 2007, according to researcher Autodata Corp. Chrysler projected a rate of 15,8 million, including medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which typically account for at least 200 000 deliveries a year. – Bloomberg.