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
That’s weird, Spike Lee is wearing my mom’s glasses.
“You have to build a garage with a new product from each of the Big 2.5. What’s your garage look like?”
Really, really, REALLY big!
GM Sales Technically Down, But No One Cares Because Everyone Knows Things Will Pickup Soon.
Dude, it was right there!
Since none of them make a Sedan, Hatchback, or Wagon under 40k, I refuse your premise and say I will only consider the Mustang, the Maverick, the Transit, the Bolt, and the Corvette. But way more likely I would be going elsewhere because the Big 2.5 suck with their new offerings.
Yes it’s Stellantis not the no one wants an EV. RIGHT
You have to build a garage with a new product from each of the Big 2.5. What’s your garage look like?
Maverick, Pacifica hybrid, C8.
In all honesty I will not entertain the idea of purchasing a new anything from the 2.5. I could go for some of their older generation products.
GM – 65 Buick Riviera
Ford – 61 Ford Galaxie Starliner with 427 4 spd
Stellantis – 60 Chrysler 300E
Bonus – no subscription or internet
Alfa Giulia
Maverick
Bolt
Excluding costs. . .
Ford Ranger 2.7
Chevy Corvette
Stella. . .hummm. . . .2 cars is enough. Really, they don’t make anything I want.
Maserati MC-12 is what you were looking for
Corvette ZR1x, Ford F250 Super Duty Tremor, Blazer EV SS
Viper, F150, Bolt
“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.”
“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.”
I’m not quite sure what your point is here…
“You have to build a garage with a new product from each of the Big 2.5. What’s your garage look like?”
Well if money is not of any consideration, then for me it’s:
Electric Dodge Charger Daytona (daily driver)Ford Mustang with the V8 with the manual (for my manual transmission fix)Chevy Express 2500 Passenger van (for hauling bulky items or transporting a group of people)
Pacifica AWD
Bronco 2-door manual
CT5-V Blackwing manual
If I have play money – CT5 Blackwing 6MT, Navigator, Dodge truck of some kind with a larger than 5’7″ bed.
Mustang, Trax, Charger Sixpack.
I must be living under a rock because we just glossed over the fact that Spike Lee and Giancarlo Esposito are shilling for Fiat?
TIL, I guess. Lede officially
buriedtossed in the East River.Fiat should be taught in business school as a case study in how NOT to launch a car brand in the US. Designed to fail from the get-go, starting with the very stupid idea of requiring a big investment in stand-alone “Fiat Studios”. Every single CDJ franchise in the country should have instantly been selling Fiats on Day 1, and there should have been something bigger than the 500 on Day 1 as well. The 500 should have had the turbo as the base engine from the start. The 500L was goofy looking, and the 500X was too little, too late. The Fiata should have had more and better marketing and more power. Alfa should have had manuals, even if they would not have sold in big numbers. And while Fiat didn’t really have quality issues (500s are pretty simple cars), those early Giulias sure did.
What does my garage look like if I had to buy from the 2.5? Empty.
Though gun to my head (and somebody else’s money):
Ford Mustang convertible
Alfa Giulia
GMC Yukon XL
Bolt
‘Stang Ecoboost Convertible
…some damn Ram truck, I guess the cheapest PoS 1500 might be useful once in a blue moon, otherwise I’d just let anyone borrow it who might need it.
This is a fairly easy game for me. Although I’d likely just do Ford/GM if I had the option. We’re Going to a Supercharged V8 Garage in the Cheese household.
Mustang GTD
Durango Hellcat (Wife’s Daily)
Cadillac CT5V BW
A huge YES to Annie! I routinely sing “What do you want – what do you want for BREAKFAST!” every Saturday morning thanks to her.
My new (fantasy) garage would have a convertible Bronco 2 door, a Celestiq, and a Pacifica.
Please convince me to buy a used 500 Abarth. I love the retro styling, the hilarious straight exhaust, and it’s cheap.
Is it a good second car for weekend fun and mild modifications?
Yes. I bought a ’13 new and absolutely loved it. They are delightful cars that really have no huge major issues. Never should have sold it, but the siren call of doing Euro Delivery for another BMW (’16 M235i) was too strong. I did not really love the BMW and didn’t keep it long. The Fiat was a laugh riot, and I had zero issues with it in the several years I owned it. The first new car I can say that about actually (though not the last).
Don’t discount the regular 500 Turbo either, especially if you are going to mod it anyway. Much cheaper, and available in much better colors. Friend of mine has had an ’18 from new and it’s been a great car with the worst issue in all these years being a couple of busted door handles and a wheel bearing. And she is ROUGH on cars.
I’m so glad to hear that! I figured they were cheap because they have mechanical issues. I guess solid ones are easy enough to find though.
What’s the difference between the Turbo trim and Abarth?
They are cheap because they were always cheap. I only paid $19K for my Abarth brand new. Base Pops were ~$13K at the time, and the newly released Turbo was $16K. Those were negotiated prices, MSRP was the usual fantasy of a couple grand higher. They really don’t have much in the way of mechanical issues. Just the usual cheap plastic parts here and there issues – but as I said, these are cheap cars, I figure that is to be expected.
The Abarth has lower and stiffer suspension, slightly wider tires, the body kit, different seats (though I don’t find them much of any more supportive), and a selectable tune that gives 160hp when in sport mode. And lame color choices. But I found I liked how it drove better out of Sport mode, which is the same 130hp as the Turbo. Like I said, if you are going to mod it anyway, just get a Turbo, throw a tune on it, and add suspension and wheels and tires to taste. And a Turbo is much less likely to have been hooned to death than an Abarth.
Also, for the first couple years of the Turbo, it was a mid-trim between the n/a Pop/Lounge and the Abarth. But as of ’17 or ’18 they dropped the n/a engine and made them all turbos. So my choice would be a late base Pop with the turbo motor in a cool color combo and take it from there to taste. I am a HUGE fan of the retro pastel blue or green on white and brown interior cars. Achingly cool. The convertibles are cool but the roofs DO break and can be spendy to fix, I have heard.
Or go left field for not a lot more money and get a Fiata. Same engine, sounds the same if you ditch the mufflers, drives like a Miata, but IMHO much better looking. And being a turbo – more tunable for less money than a Miata (and the Fiat 1.4T can make a LOT of power before it blows up). But I didn’t fit in mine comfortably, so it had to go. Lovely car otherwise. I replaced the cat-back exhaust on mine and got an upgraded boost control solenoid, but didn’t bother to tune it – it was fast enough stock. The boost solenoid made for better throttle response.
This is great info, thanks so much! I’m sort of set on a real Abarth, but the other trims are enticingly cheap…
I’ve got some researching to do, thanks again!
Happy to help! You’ll have fun with it either way. It really just comes down to taste. Today you have a lot more choices than I did back then.
Bought a lightly used ’13 Abarth in ’16 as a run-around and airport car when I was flying for work a lot. RIOT! You can drive it at 10/10ths pretty much all the time and not exceed the speed limit, while still returning over 30 mpg. Sounds awesome too with the little exhaust snaps and pops when shifting. I’d try to convince anyone to drive it and a few friends even bought their own.
Tires are really cheap. Oil changes kind of a pain but doable. Long road trips on the highway not so great (fuel economy drops significantly after ~70-75 mph and the seats aren’t fun after an hour or two).
Remove the rear seat and it’s under 2500 lbs with a surprisingly big cargo area.
It really sounds perfect for a second fun car! Any issues with yours?
All purchased used and paid cash for – no depreciation & no interest 🙂
Not much appeals to me these days here’s my picks:
Mustang GT with a 6 speed (although Coyotes sound horrible, manual options in the big 3 are hilariously slim)
Chevy Tahoe (muh BOF)
Charger EV (land barge commuter, sorta environmentally friendly edition)
Naming of MB driving thing.
They are German. It’s lucky it isn’t called
Drivingassistthatonlyworksonhighwaysthatarefullymappedandunderstoodwithturningof thesteeringwheelandapplicationofthebrakewithdriveralertcheckingwithinlegalboundarieswithnoclaimsoflegalliabilityincaseofaccidentwithinnorthamerican
Or, DATOWHWAUTWABDACWNCOLLICAWNA for short.
That’s what it’s called in German, they translated it to English and had to split the words up.
Just replaced a bunch of letters of the German Abbreviation with + signs.