Damn. DAMN. The Detroit 2.5 reported full-year and Q4 sales this morning, and it’s a race to the bottom for some Stellantis brands, with a little bit of hopefulness for others. I’ll use The Morning Dump today to review how each automaker stacks up, because that’s fun for me.
Obviously, I’m going to start with Stellantis because I got the utterly insane stat that Fiat is now below the car-per-day number, and way below the car-per-dealership amount. While Fiat and Alfa are struggling, it’s not all cumulonimbus clouds. At least some brands are seeing some… Cirrus.
GM technically underperformed relative to Stellantis in Q4 in terms of sales velocity, but not in a way that really matters. General Motors had a good year in spite of it all. As did Ford.
CES is going on, and I suspect you’ll hear a little more about it. One of the interesting announcements is that Mercedes is going to be the next carmaker to rival Tesla’s FSD in the United States.
Fiat Sold Just 84 Cars In 91 Days
There are two cars that Fiat sells in the United States. One is the new Fiat 500, an electric car that’s absolutely decent if you’re one of the extraordinarily low number of people who want to pay a lot of money for a low-range city car. It’s likely that there are more people who wrote fan fiction based on the short-lived Jonathan Silverman-led sitcom The Single Guy in the fourth quarter than bought a Fiat 500.
The other car is the Fiat 500X, which isn’t a new car so much as an old car that Fiat dealers still can’t sell. Overall, Fiat sold one car for every four Fiat dealers. You can look at the full sales release here, from FCA US LLC, which is technically the name of the American-based subsidiary of Stellantis. Fiat is in bad shape, but that’s nothing new. Alfa, too.
The Ram brand was down 4%, although a lot of that has to do with slipping sales for both the ProMaster and Ram HD (both of which are made in Mexico). The Ram 1500 was up 23% year-over-year for the quarter, thanks in part to the return of the V8.
Jeep? It was up 5%, thanks to a huge push for Gladiator. The Wrangler, too, was up 3% to 39,268 sales. This does mean that the Wrangler outsold the Bronco overall, although it was tight. Chrysler and Dodge were somewhat surprisingly the biggest movers, at 29% and 26% growth, respectively. For Chrysler, this is all about minivans, because, well, that’s all there is. The 29% increase in minivan sales is just enough to make up for losses earlier in the year, so the brand is overall up 1% year-over-year. My guess is that a lot of people got good deals on a van last quarter.
Dodge’s sales were, of course, from huge EV Charger sales. Just kidding! Only 346 people bought the EV Charger. Was it in the Hornet? No, of course not. It’s the Durango! A huge 114% increase in Durango sales was not enough to make up for the lack of Dodge products, so the brand was still down 28% for the year, and Stellantis as a whole dropped 3%.
Stellantis is one of those companies you have to give time to, as there are still strong brands there, and it’s not impossible for them to create good products. The company is still living in the aftermath of Carlos Tavares and will be for some time.
GM Sales Technically Down, But No One Cares Because Pickup Trucks
No one wants to lose sales, but profitability is more important than growth, and my guess is that GM was way more profitable in North America than Stellantis was last year. I’m sure Q4 financials for Jeep’s parent company are going to look a lot worse than the ones for Buick’s parent.
Here’s the full breakdown of Q4 GM sales and, yeah, every brand struggled a bit. For Buick, which was still up for the full year, a lot of it has to do with the Buick Envision, which is built in China. The brand still had its best sales since before the pandemic. Cadillac was down, too, as it’s feeling the loss of the XT4 and a general disinterest in its gas-powered crossover game. The CT4 and CT5 saw a rise, as maybe sedans aren’t entirely dead.
Chevy had a big year overall, hitting more than 1.829 million sales, but a big drop in EV sales and a lack of a sedan seems to have taken a toll. The Trax, which had its best year ever, also saw big drop in Q4, and I’ve asked GM why that is. My guess is that GM slowed the imports of the Trax from South Korea until the tariff issues were clarified, and it seems like more are on the way.
Trucks lead the way, with GM having the best-selling full-sized truck if you combine GMC and Chevy, which Ford will not agree with, but that’s what’s happening. GM was also the second biggest EV producer in the US in 2025.
Ford Finishes The Year Strong
A part of me wanted to see the Bronco defeat the Wrangler this year if only for the headline and topshot combo. It didn’t happen, but I don’t think Ford is sweating the 146,007 Broncos the brand sold this year. That’s even more than the smaller, cheaper Bronco Sport, which ended up in 134,493 driveways.
There’s a way to look at it that the Bronco is the new Ford Taurus, which is insane but basically true. Are cars dead? No! Ford managed to sell 45,333 Mustangs this year, which is up 3% year-over-year. It’s not bad to be the only game in town, I suppose.
As with GM, the most important measure for Ford is the F-Series, and all F-XXXs were down slightly in Q4 (mostly due to F-150 Lightning sales), but overall the F-Series grew by 8.3% this year, leading Ford to a 6.2% rise overall.
Most importantly, though, it was the best year for the Maverick.
Lincoln was more even this year, only rising 2%, which isn’t great, and also reflects the difficulty of selling a Chinese-built car in the United States.
Mercedes Thinks It’ll Compete With Tesla On ‘Self-Driving’
As explained in this video from Mercedes, the new CLA has what the company is calling Level 2++, which is a totally made-up, not real thing. Tesla calls this “Full Self-Driving,” but no lawyer at Daimler would ever approve it, so Mercedes calls this “MB.Drive Assist Pro.” Who lets Mercedes name things? The company is just terrible at it.
What’s important, though, is that this tech has been offering the same supervised point-to-point driving ability in China that Tesla offers in the United States. Now, it’s coming to the US, as Mercedes announced yesterday:
With Mercedes-Benz’s MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO, driving assistance and navigation merge to create a completely new and safe driving experience. At the press of a button, the vehicle can help navigate through the city streets – from the parking lot to the destination – with advanced SAE-Level 2 assistance. Thanks to Mercedes-Benz’s cooperative steering approach, steering adaptions are possible at any time without deactivating the system.
MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO uses some 30 sensors, including 10 cameras, 5 radar sensors and 12 ultrasonic sensors. All of these provide raw data to an extremely powerful supercomputer, which is capable of up to 508 TOPs.
The system should cost around $3,950 for three years, although a monthly membership price is coming. By comparison, it’s $8,000 or $99 a month for the Tesla system.
While other ADAS systems exist in the United States, they’re somewhat limited in which roads they can be used on (although GM’s SuperCruise will add streets soon). Mercedes is basically saying you can use it everywhere and that, like the Tesla, it doesn’t need LIDAR. The Mercedes CLA just got a lot more interesting.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I had a lot of writing to do today, so what better way to get bumped than with the MSTRKRFT remix of “Heartbeat” by Annie. Let’s dance.
The Big Question
You have to build a garage with a new product from each of the Big 2.5. What’s your garage look like?
Top photo: Fiat
F150
Corvette
Pacifica
The Big Question is haaaaaard.
I don’t typically muck with the big 2.5. I could easily come up with 3 Fords and 3 GMs before I hit a Jeep/Dodge/Ram I like. But….here we go
Ford – 2-Door Bronco, you can leave the roof at the factory, this is a 3rd car only
GM – Caddy Celestiq. I don’t care if it’s butt ugly
…. hmmm …. screw it
Chrysler – Pacifica PHEV as a family hauler when we actually want to be near each other.
A garage from the big 2.5 is easy.
Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
Mustang Dark Horse MT
Ram Truck of some sort
If you say so, boss.
I think the proposition on the 500e is not “pay too much for a city car” so much as it was “get a phenomenally cheap lease on a city car”. Emphasis on “was” there, with the demise of the tax credit. I expect that you could still get a very inexpensive lease rate on one still, just maybe not the amazing deals you could get with the tax credit.
I’ve had mine for almost a year now, and it’s been a fantastic commuter car that I have had zero problems with, especially since I’m only paying $33 a month to lease it. Weirdly enough, when I was over in Budapest last month, I saw way more i3s there than I saw 500es.
Listen up kids, don’t ever pin your hopes/dreams/personality on a niche car brand. *Curls up in fetal position and cries*
My garage as per the question;
Silverado 1500
Bronco 2-door manual
Jeep Grand Cherokee
The FIAT dealer nearest my home shut down and the building is now occupied by an INEOS dealer. Obviously the new dealer sells more vehicles at a higher profit.
Ford Maverick FWD Hybrid
Jeep Wrangler (zero options)
GM uh, do I have to? Maybe one of the Cadillac EV. They look good, at least.
Ford: Bronco Badlands
GM: Corvette (although it will be a cold day when I buy any GM product)
Stellantis: Ram 2500 Cummins 4WD
While it’s true, reading “Detroit 2.5” has a bit of a sting to it! Oh well.
If I’m building a garage, it’s either going to be;
Depends where the garage is.
Ford: Mustang GT Premium with a stick in that sweet yellow
GM: Escalade
Chrysler: Ram 1500 with the V8
GM: Cadillac CT5 V-series Blackwing w/Manual
Ford: Mustang GTD
Stellantis: Dodge Charger Scatpack (yes, the electric one)
Surely my insurance bills will be reasonable.
GM: Any of their EV lineup, as a proud GM EV(ish, Volt) owner, I’d have a modern one in a heartbeat. That, or any of their GMT based stuff.
Ford: Bronco! I think its a fantastic product. Maverick would be cool too.
Chrysler: Lol. Uhhh, if you twist my arm, the basest base model Wrangler, or the 392 if they still make that.
Regarding the garage question:
Ford: F-250 or F-350 (need to tow).
GM: … Bolt? (strictly a grocery getter)
Still-with-us? product: Charger EV (someday it will be a collector car because of its rarity)
And I’m keeping my Miata.
Ford: Mustang GTD
GM: Escalade
Stellantis: Chrysler 300 (yup)
GM: Equinox EV
Ford: F-150 Hybrid
Stellantis: Do they still make the Giulia? I don’t know that I would ever buy one for my real garage, but for a fantasy garage that’s a pretty solid option. If not, I’ll go Pacifica.
As far as I’m aware, the MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO will only be available for cars that have a pair of side cameras (the first one shown in that video above). Whatever’s been sold in Europe so far doesn’t have these as far as I know, so they will be limited to MB.DRIVE ASSIST PLUS (which is yet unavailable). PLUS will supposedly be able to change a lane on the highway on its own. The only thing that we have now is MB.DRIVE (without anything), which is pretty much a lane keeping assist system.
As an EQ CLA owner (in Europe), I have to say that marketing around this is pretty abysmal. Mine, despite the Premium Plus trim level, isn’t equipped with neither and I have yet to subscribe to MB.DRIVE. I would like to see more information about all of these MB.DRIVE ASSIST versions, a comparison table would be nice too. I’m not sure if Mercedes-Benz marketing understands it either as the blue CLA on the thumbnail on the video above about MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO doesn’t have these side cameras.
Not that I’m too concerned about this as such capability in Europe is probably a good few years away anyway given all of the regulatory constraints. And where I live (Poland) it could take even longer, especially considering our messy signage system.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this can be configured permanently when ordering a car as it’s the case with the basic MB.DRIVE. It might not be possible to unlock it afterwards though. Mercedes has taken an odd approach about this as some things can be unlocked permanently and others only for up to three years. Why AR navigation or smartphone integration can be unlocked permanently and cameras (back only or the full 360°) or LKA not boggles my mind. I intend to keep a vehicle for 5+ years and I wouldn’t mind just fully unlocking these. It’s more about the principle rather than the finances (subscription becomes more expensive only after 6 years than an outright configuration of the vehicle).
While we’re complaining about being nickeled and dimed, there’s one digital extra that I will definitely won’t be paying for and that’s the Logbook app. I find the pricing atrocious – with Volvo it was about 50-75 USD per year (and that was for other features like remote access to the car). And with MB it’s a whopping $315 per year. I like having access to stats and numbers, but this is a little steep for my taste.
The uptick in Gladiators is really a surprise to me.
Agree. They really haven’t changed much on them, you’d figure everyone who really wanted one would have already bought one, like the way the FJ Cruiser fizzled out.
I actually really like the JT, 2 years ago I really wanted to buy one, but I came to my senses that it met my imaginary needs better than my actual needs. If I lived out west and was an overlander, 100% I’d want a Gladiator.
Everyone’s overlanding needs and expectations are different.
IMHO, the Gladiator’s bed is too small and the back seat is superfluous for overlanding. I suppose one could remove the back seats to make room for cargo and build storage cabinets.
This is true. In my case, I’m thinking more “rocklander”. Way more off-road capability than say a Tacoma, but with about the same space constraints.
Most of the Gladiator people I follow have done exactly that, removed the rear seats for gear platforms.
I think the rear seats are next to useless in all the trucks in that class.
My Ram could be a pretty decent overlander. Tons of room in the crewcab, and great range with the 33-gallon fuel tank. And even at only 5’7, the bed is still pretty big. Good payload too, at 1,790lbs. I just think it’s size-limited here in New England.
I live “out west.” As an off-road overlander I will stick to my JL diesel. Driver’s side rear seat replaced with fridge platform. Plenty of room for 2 people and a dog (lab) with gear for a week or more. My tent and bed setup weigh much less and are more versatile than an RTT. I did look long and hard at a JT though, but too big for where I want to go and not big enough to make the compromise. My dad did get himself a JT after spending a week in my JL.
This guy, this guy right here gets it. Perfect setup.
(Minor caveat that personally I do truck stuff and might make mine a tradesman or something)
Stellantis, wow.
I would like to ruin something and get paid tens of millions of dollars to go away.
I’ll probably only ever make it halfway
If Fiat made the 500e without those stupid electric door handles I would have bought one instead of my Leaf.
I’m going to make up some additional constraints to make it interesting. 3 vehicles, must be less than $150,000 MSRP total, must be things that actually fit my life as someone that’s married with young children.
I’d daily the Bolt on my longer commute, wife would daily the Ram. She’d say she wouldn’t want to, but she enjoys a commanding seating position and would like the interior of higher trims.
That being said, I do greatly enjoy the utility of a third row even though I don’t use it daily. Was super useful over the holidays. Maybe instead:
I’d daily the Giulia of course, and the Maverick for when it’s in the shop (though I’m told the non Quadrifoglios are decently reliable). Wife would daily the Tahoe of course.
I picked up a Ram 1500 in late November. I initially wasn’t thinking Ram, but once I drove it I was sold. The Hurricane 6 is buttery smooth and nearly silent, and it’s quick! The ride itself is really nice; I was surprised a half ton with nearly 1800 lbs of payload could ride so nice. Mine is a fairly low spec too, it’s got the cloth bench and plasticky interior, but it still feels quality, and it has physical control for everything.
My GF was so excited when I got it; she loves driving it. The only real negative is you have to be more selective about parking spots.
I want to hear more about the Hurricane 6 as you own it! When we first started dating, my wife had a red, base, Ram 1500 with the Magum V6. Short bed, short cab. We loved it.
Will do! I just hit 2K miles with it, so not a ton of experience with it yet, but I’m loving it so far. I’m just really impressed with how smooth and quiet it is, at idle I can barely tell it’s running, and when the stop start kicks in, I only really notice when the engine starts back up, not when it shuts off. I drove the Hemi as well, back-to-back, and I preferred the Hurricane. The Hemi sounded fantastic, but I wasn’t looking for a muscle car. All the Hemi 26’s have the “sport” exhaust, and it’s fairly loud. I liked the sound but was certain it would get old as a daily driver or when starting it up at 6am. I’ve owned plenty of V8 vehicles in the past, including a truck, and this time around I wanted something more refined.
I was skeptical at first, I actually found a post from myself here saying I wouldn’t trust the Hurricane as far as I could throw it, and the Hemi is the only way to go. I’ll eat my words on that, at this point I couldn’t imagine buying one the V8.
I joined a few Ram groups, and a lot of long-time owners are saying they’d never go back to the Hemi, that other than the sound the Hurricane is superior in every way.
Let me know if you have any specific questions, I’d be happy to answer.
I like this constraint; makes you compromise.
Coming back to this later, I’m thinking a high trim Traverse might be a better fit in option 2 than a Tahoe but, well, coulda had a V8
CT5-VCorvetteMustang, convertible, V8, manual trans
Charger 4-door, I can’t decide EV or Hurricane until I drive them.
Do not think you in the US know the damage done to Stellantis, especially Peugeot and Citroën by the PureTech petrol engine scandal — and the 1.5 litre BlueHDi diesel engine scandal.
There have been multiple reports on prime time TV news — still have that in France — of second hand dealers refusing to take any cars with those motors because no-one will buy them.
Problems came to a head in 2022 when Tavares signed off on cost cutting.
Will take generations to regain trust, especially as before this, the PSA diesels were probably the best in the world.
“heard it here first” Am American, read lots of car news, never heard of it. Thanks!
Hmm, Ford Bronco Badlands (2Door, 7 speed manual).
Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
Does Alfa count for Stellantis? Maybe a Giulia. Dodge doesn’t offer anything I really want.
I am going to assume with this bounty of cars and their price ranges, fuel and insurance costs are not a concern for my imaginary wallet.