Year over year, sales rose 2% at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) in March to 193,915 units, the company’s best March sales level since 2007. The Jeep brand posted its best March sales ever, with Patriot sales up 41% and total sales for the brand up 23%.
The company’s sales total was well short of analysts’ estimates. Analysts at Kelley Blue Book had projected sales at 196,000, and Edmunds had projected about 200,000 sales in March.
The company’s Jeep brand sold 71,584 units in March. Jeep has set a sales record every month since November 2013. Four of the brand’s six models posted their best-ever March sales marks. The company also began selling its all-new Jeep Renegade in the middle of the month.
Ram pickup sales fell 2% in March to 41,595, breaking a nearly five-year-long string of monthly sales increases. Last year, Ram sold 42,532 pickups in March. For the first three months of 2015, Ram sales are up 9%.
The drop in Ram pickup sales is not good news for Chrysler. The pickups are the company’s best-selling vehicle, accounting for 21% of total sales in March and nearly 22% of the company’s year-to-date sales.
Year over year, sales of the company’s Chrysler brand are up 15%, as sales of the new Chrysler 200 rose 155% year-over-year to 19,190 units on top of a 13% year-over-year gain in February.
Chrysler projected a seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales in the United States from all manufacturers at 17.1 million units for 2015, up from last month’s projection of 16.5 million. The company ended the month with 73 days supply of inventory, down from 85 days of supply at the end of February.
Chrysler’s shares traded up about 1.2% in Wednesday’s premarket session at $16.51. The current post-IPO range is $8.54 to $17.08.
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