The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) conference in Las Vegas is over, and every dealer seems to have been told basically the same thing: We expect you to sell more cars next year. Given that most analysts expect a flat market this year, how exactly is that going to work?
The theme of today’s TMD is: Aim for the stars, and maybe you’ll land on the roof. Every brand seems optimistic going into the rest of the year, and they have some, um, interesting thoughts about what can be accomplished.
That’s not to say things can’t improve. Ford, with its seemingly endless string of warranty issues, finally made enough improvements and will be able to hand out some bonuses tied to those changes. Stellantis, though, is handing out notices to owners asking them to please stop driving their cars if they haven’t had the Takata airbag replacement.
And, finally, many great car writers and editors are willing to go on strike if Hearst, the company that owns all of the major traditional buff books, doesn’t meet their demands.
Stellantis Will Grow 25% This Year, Says Stellantis
It would be strange for an automaker to say to its dealers that it expected them to sell fewer cars in a year, right? The point is, typically, to sell more. I’m no business genius, clearly, but that would make a little bit of sense to me.
On the other hand, the experts at Cox Automotive are forecasting sales of 15.8 million units this year, which is slightly down from 2025. Even if you take the more positive outlook of 16 million from Edmunds, this means that there is essentially no surplus of buyers this year.
And, yet, the line always has to go up and to the right.
Vince Bond, Jr., over at Automotive News, has a good wrap-up post on what various brands are asking dealers to deliver this year:
Companies on hot streaks, including BMW and Hyundai, are confident they can keep rolling. Others see an opportunity to steal back market share from rivals.
Stellantis is pushing dealers for 25 percent more retail sales this year, with Nissan, Mitsubishi, Volvo and Volkswagen also wanting double-digit gains. Mercedes has set a 7 percent target, while Honda and Kia are each seeking 5 percent.
Wait, Stellantis said what? More please:
The automaker is banking on a redesigned Jeep Cherokee and the gasoline version of the redesigned Dodge Charger to recover lost market share. In addition to delivering fresh products, Stellantis is funneling more advertising dollars to assist dealers at the regional and local levels.
The 25 percent target is a “tough number” but not impossible, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions.
Reviving the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 on the flagship Ram 1500 could help the brand claw back market share in the pickup race, Fiorani said.
This, to a normal person who follows the car market, sounds absolutely unhinged. As a whole, Stellantis sales were down 7% year-over-year. It’s not like there are a lot of Fiat or Alfa Romeo products coming to the rescue, even if a new Jeep Cherokee can only help. Some of the brands have grown sales in North America, so they’re on a positive trajectory, but 25% is absolutely wild, even with marketing and incentive support. Collectively, these brands have been on a slide longer than Stellantis itself has existed.
Nissan putting up double-digit growth also sounds like a tough challenge, although the new Sentra is not bad (review coming). Nissan has fallen so far that perhaps up is the only direction left. Can Volkswagen dealers build double-digit growth wholly on the back of new Tiguans and old Atlases? Good luck!
Many of the brands hoping to grow are also subject to tariffs, meaning price competitiveness is going to create a new challenge. By comparison, Honda and Kia seem downright reasonable.
Ford Hands Out Bonuses For Quality Improvements
The “Quality is Job 19” jokes have been writing themselves for too long, so perhaps it’s only fair to point out that, at least by its own accounting, Ford improved last year.
Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley told employees in a town hall on Wednesday that companywide bonuses would be set to 130%, according to four people familiar with the matter, as the automaker delivered on its goal to improve vehicle quality.
Farley told attendees that the higher payouts are mainly due to the automaker’s improved initial vehicle quality, which measures repairs in the first 90 days of ownership. Farley said the metric is the best it has been in a decade, two of the people said.
As you can see in the photo above, CEO Jim Farley stands between each new vehicle now to make sure it’s in good condition.
Stellantis Begs You To Please Not Drive These Cars
It’s wild to me that the Takata Airbag Crisis is ongoing. I feel like we do a version of this story every single year. If you’ve somehow missed it, the company that made a huge proportion of the airbags for cars globally had a defect that would cause airbags to fire shrapnel into people when inflated. This means you could survive an accident only to be killed by the airbag that just tried to save you.
Most cars have been fixed, but Stellantis just put out a notice asking the more than 220,000 people who still have cars that haven’t been fixed to please stop driving those damn cars. Here are some of the details from Reuters:
Chrysler parent Stellantis NV issued a “Do Not Drive” warning on Wednesday for about 225,000 older vehicles in the United States fitted with unrepaired defective Takata air bag inflators.
The warning applies to older Dodge Ram, Durango, Dakota, Magnum and Challenger, Chrysler Aspen and 300, Jeep Wrangler, and Mitsubishi Raider vehicles that have not had repairs completed from various model years from 2003 through 2016.
Seriously, these cars are dangerous. If you haven’t had a fix, please get it fixed. If you don’t know, please check!
Hearst Union Members Plan To Go On Strike If Seemingly Reasonable Demands Aren’t Met
If you weren’t aware, all of the traditional big auto magazines left in the United States are all owned by one company: Hearst Magazines. That’s AutoWeek, MotorTrend, Good Housekeeping, Car And Driver, and Road & Track.
Those writers are currently bargaining, via the WGA East, for a fair contract. As a WGAE member with a lot of friends in the union, I have my own biases here. What the writers want is mostly simple:
- Livable salaries and raises after years without them.
- A revised work-at-home policy that doesn’t mean that someone who, say, has to review cars for a living is forced to schlep into Manhattan every day.
- AI protections.
As I’ve written about before, Hearst made a deal with OpenAI and is encouraging all of its writers and editors to use its products. It’s reasonable to expect that more companies will utilize AI tools, but it’s also reasonable that creative professionals will want some protections.
One of the big asks appears to be that Hearst can’t just use the likeness of its own employees in videos or photos (or voice, presumably). Could you imagine your favorite House Beautiful video personality having their persona and visage completely copied and used without their consent? Kinda creepy!
The fact that one company owns all these magazines means that how they act impacts the whole industry.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
For no reason at all, here’s The White Stripes performing “The Union Forever.”
The Big Question
Which automaker will see the biggest growth this year?
Top graphic images: DepositPhotos.com; Ray-Ban; Stellantis; Nissan; Volkswagen
Stellantis is so cooked.
Let’s looks at some huge markets and segments.
1. Midsize crossover (RAV4 class). They aren’t even close to the top ten in quality or value.
2. 3-Row. They’d have to be my last choice just in reliability concerns alone. Let alone why would you buy anything but a hybrid in this family hauling class.
I could go on, segment by segment they have some of the worst products.
Stellantis and Nissan are in a in a similar boat. VW still has its global brands and appeal and seem to be trying to get the price down at least in Europe but I doubt they will ever get China back and that was a huge profit center for them. Nissan appears to understand they are in trouble and trying things. I just think it might be too late. They don’t have the capital they need to make it work. They have been hit hard by the Chinese in many markets too. Stellantis seems to be in a downward spiral. Their buyers want the gen 4 ram and the challenger at the prices they were paying in 2014. I’m sure there are police departments that still want the police chargers too. Though many have gone to suvs because Ford and Gm did but Durango pursuit or whatever it’s called hasn’t done huge. Their prices are just wrong and fixing them isn’t going to be easy plus lack of trust. They won many fleets back because of their prices but have lost them again to Ford and Gm because they became more expensive.
How much market has Stellantis lost in the last few years? Is this “25% growth” simply gaining back the customers they lost?
yes, but the Spin Doctors won’t say that.
Little Miss Can’t Sell A Car
I hope Hearst doesn’t go on strike. Good Housekeeping had the best review of the Mitsubishi Mirage ever! 5 doileys.
30 Helens Agree
Does that author hate Torch too? I hear that the Mirage is very controversial
Nah, but the author hates David for his abuse of spaghetti.
I’m feeling ok about Nissan. Ford is very good when they want to be. Stellantis is delulu. After all these years, VW is still trying to figure out the US market. Frankly they should just take most of the Skoda lineup and rebadge it as VW with Skoda-equivalent pricing. Not mentioned, but I remain bullish on Buick.
No opinion on GM and the ever failing engines?
GM has brand equity.
“Silverado 6.2 please – because “Like a Rock”
(two months later)
“Hey – My Silverado broke down and won’t drive anymore!”
“So it’s “Like a Rock”?
In his defense, no Buick gets the 6.2. Hell, all US Buicks are 3 or 4 cylinders only
From a practical standpoint, I’m not sure the ancient 5.7 Hemi is going to fix Ram’s woes, but I will tell you, _every_ person I know who lives in rural areas where pickups sell big has told me they hate that Ram is not/was not offering a V8. Without exception. Doesn’t matter how much power they make, what the mileage is, how reliable they are, those Hurricane motors may as well be boat anchors to these guys. While I think it’s in many ways a step backwards from the I6 motors, just having a V8 on the 1500 option sheet is going to boost their sales significantly. 25%, probably not, but it’s still going to be more than you think.
indeed, this is likely the outcome, and the rest of the people just shopping a truck will likely choose the Hurricane once they actually drive it , or more tot he point it proves to be free from defects after a few more years of use by the public guinea pigs.
Ford went through this in 2009 with the EcoBoost F150. Now only 25% of F150s have a V8. I figured of all the brands to learn from that, Stellantis would have acknowledged their customers the best.
I have to imagine the guys over at Ford’s truck division had quite a laugh when Ram announced they were discontinuing the Hemi in favor of the Hurricane. Most F-150s leave the factory with an Ecoboost engine now, but when they launched the first Ecoboost pickups, there was an endless parade of cheap jokes about it. By the time the second gen Raptor got the 3.5 liter turbo V6, most people had shut up about it, but you know what, through all of it, Ford never stopped selling the 5.0 V8 in the F-150.
Plus the engine replacement profit is strong with the EcoBoost engines especially the 3.5 TTV6.
I work down the street from a CJDR dealer and I’m shocked how many trucks with 30 day tags I see leaving the dealership with the Ram/Hemi badge on the side. It’s almost all of them
Nissan thinks they can see double-digit growth while trying to leave me behind?
They are truly the most deluded automaker.
You’re back! I was worried about you.
No need to worry, it’s not like a Jatco Xtronic CVT to just quit on you and give up
Well done.
Maybe double-digit growth worldwide but not in the United States.
“Stellantis Will Grow 25% This Year, Says Stellantis”
As if.
What exact products will get them there? The Charger and Cherokee won’t be enough. They need to get more and a greater variety of product for both Dodge and Chrysler.
One thing they could do is is un-cancel the Hornet and then introduce a regular/much cheaper FWD version of it with a non-turbo engine. And they could also offer a simplified regular FWD hybrid version and undercut the price of other hybrids.
For Chrysler… Make a new 300 based on the new Charger. Make the top version the 300E… for a fully electric version. Make a 300H as a regular hybrid. And make the standard version with their new inline 6.
And make a version of the Hornet for Chrysler and call it the PT Cruiser.
If they did at least these steps, then I would believe Stellantis could grow 25%
But right now they have too much ‘nothing’ in too many segments. And what they do have is all being sold overloaded/overpriced trims.
They have to give up the dream that the inflated fat margins from the Covid shortage can continue.
“Which automaker will see the biggest growth this year?”
My money is on BYD.
The Hornet would have to be built domestically to have a real shot at getting to the right price point, and I don’t think Stellantis is going to invest in a second set of tooling for the Toenail to set up a second plant. But, if they did, it would be a good opportunity to restyle the sheet metal and relaunch it cheaper and with more Dodge brand DNA
Nah… since the Horny and Toenail have been ‘cancelled’, just ship the existing tooling to whereever they need to to make the numbers work.
No need for a 2nd set of tooling. But a mild restyle (and we both know Stellantis will drag there asses on even doing that) would be a good idea.
Ah, didn’t realize the Alfa was dead, too. But, yeah, the Hornet does still seem like something that should be able to sell if it was priced right. Like, square at the Rouge and Outlander
Actually I just checked and the Toenail isn’t dead.
So on that basis, yes a 2nd set of tooling would be required and some mild investment would be required.
So if Stellantis was serious about increasing their volumes, do a mild redesign that takes the cost out of the Toenail and use that to build a new Horny and a new PT Cruiser in a USMCA site using USMCA-covered parts.
That would get the costs down bigly.
But I don’t believe Stellantis is serious. I don’t expect this to happen unless they get a Lee Iacocca-type getting in control of the company.
they could probably tool up one of the shuttered jeep plants in the US. But would they be able to find a cheap enough platform to bolt the body to, while still being reliable enough to overcome the performance penalty box.
I had thought a path forward for them was a USMCA-Max strategy of spinning as many models as they can off of what they already have in North America
Heavy facelift Durango + spin off a more upscale Chrysler Aspen
Heavy facelift Pacifica + spin off a cheaper, decontented Dodge Caravan
Notchback version of Charger 5-door as new Chrysler 300
Notchback version of Charger 3-door as new Chrysler coupe, and maybe contract out a convertible conversion. Name would need to be workshopped – 200, Sebring, Nassau?
Maybe see if its feasible to shorten the Durango to make a new midsizer on the cheap
Nope, the Hornet and Toenail are sub-compacts. The Outlander offers a small but effective 3rd row and the Rogue despite the automotive enthusiast communities hate for it (somewhat deserved with the 3-cyl) sells well and is popular.
Hornet styling was so ubiquitous that this was never the problem. the issue was Alfa assembly prices and relative cost per unit. The extra price was punitive in the reality of the vehicles perceived as well as real quality issues.
Now if they could somehow have gotten that french Hybrid system under the hood for under 25K per unit on the base model, then I think that would have really gotten people looking at them, though the realities of cheap little SUV’s would likely have hit a potential snag with real quality issue s that likely would have been a thing.
Dodge would more likely end up making a Charger Cross or something. Probably call it the “new” Durango though.
Eventually they will be for sale in the USA and will probably crush it here.
Biggest growth by percentage could very well be someone like Mitsu or Stellantis because their sales were so lackluster last year.
Biggest growth by units sold will probably be Toyota because as the economy gets worse, more people are going for the pragmatic and reliable choice when it comes time to replace their car.
Mitsubishi has the Telluride/Palisade-sized Destinator, the Pajero and others. Despite being built in Japan they could probably price them competitively in the USA. The Xpander would do well here, too.
“Do or Die”, the title track from Dropkick Murphy’s first album, would also be a great listen. Really, that whole album is great.
25% would be an astronomical turnaround for any of these brands, and I don’t see that happening.
However, I am bullish on Nissan, who seem to be getting back to at least announcing things that people want and fill a niche. Ford ably demonstrated that Jeep is vulnerable and there remains huge demand for Bronco and Wrangler-type vehicles. Nailing the new Xterra will be critical for Nissan’s success. And they have something that is in high demand: a large American manufacturing footprint. That will bring teaming opportunities. Will it be 25%? 8 ball says “don’t bet on it”. However I don’t think they’re dead.
I do think VW might be dead in the US. They’re rudderless and I’m not hearing the things from the top that I would want to hear. However, they’re a massive company and it would be foolish to count them out so quickly.
As for Stellantis, I think some growth this year is possible simply by undoing all of the stupid things they’ve done for the past several years. Again, won’t be 25%. Like Ford, they have a massive quality problem but unlike Ford I don’t see them taking big swings to address it.
Alot of folks here do not remember when VW ALMOST pulled out of the United States market is 1992 due to dismal sales. It could happen again especially with UAW-induced profit shrinkage at their Chattanooga plant now.
I’m gonna go against the grain of the comments here and say that a 25% one-time gain by Stellantis this year is actually not all that unreasonable.
I have no idea if the new Cherokee is any good, but as a hybrid midsize SUV it is right in the center of the target for mass-market vehicles right now. Even if it turns out to be kind of mediocre, it’s still a market-share multiplier for Jeep.
How big a market-share multiplier? Just look at Toyota. They sold about 2.5M cars in the US last year and 500k of those (fully 20%) were RAV4s. If they killed off that one model, their sales would presumable drop by almost 20% immediately. You add it back in, your sales go up by 20%.
Cherokee is a well-known nameplate and if they market it well I don’t think they’ll have any trouble getting people into dealerships to check it out. So I’m gonna say Stellantis sales go up by 20% in 2026. Y’all can come back at the end of the year and make fun of me when I’m wrong.
Just to add: the Tucson makes up about 25% of Hyundai sales and the CRV is almost 30% of Honda sales. The people, they want midsize SUVs. Killing off the Cherokee without a replacement might have been the dumbest thing Stellantis ever did.
You mean besides killing off the Challenger and Charger without immediate replacements or re-badging an Alfa or removing the V8 from the trucks or letting Chrysler dwindle down to one vehicle?
Edit: Also lighting money and property on fire with the 4xe?
Man, putting all their stupid decisions in one place like that makes me wonder how Tavares (not pictured above) lasted as long as he did.
It also makes me wonder what in the ever loving fuck was he thinking? Was he simply put in place for stock market manipulation? A lot of people can make a lot of money if a large company loses a lot of money.
and no one will know how much they suck the first year, so perhaps the new shiny will sell some cherokees to the RAV4 cross-shopping crowd when they realize they can’t get a toyota without markups/nonsense dealer add-ons/long wait times?
Just put an American flag sticker about the size of their current “RAM” tailgate badge on everything and that aught to do the trick!
Chuckling to myself at the mental image of plant workers in Toluca Mexico, paid by a European conglomerate, affixing giant American flag stickers to the sides of a vehicle named after a native American tribe in order to make them appeal to patriotic Americans… awesome.
Most delusional automaker:
“We’re going to grow by 25%”
“Hold my beer. We’re going to build robots.”
Stellantis North America: They just build huge wasteful tanks. They will regret this.
VW: Financial woes continue, coupled with a degrading global economy.
Nissan: Got a time machine? Their woes started 20 years ago.
Stellantis is the most deluded automaker right now. So, for heaven’s sake, give them back their ludes.
There’s been whispers of looming Hearst layoffs since they acquired MotorTrend last year (that created redundancies). I won’t be shocked if management leverages the current negotiations to get those reductions in personnel.
I can think of a name from C&D and another from MT they can do without.
25% huh? That’s a lot of toothpaste to put back in the tube. I’m doing a bit of a quick thought exercise – what’s in the office parking lot? Let’s see: Silverado EV, a smattering of Teslas, new BMW SUV of some sort, my 2012 Volt, several Subarus, an ancient V-10 Ford Excursion, a new Hyundai hybrid, and several non-descript late-model Hondas and Toyotas. Not a single Stellantis product.
And, how many immediate family members would even consider something from Stellantis? One, The Old Man, a fully ride-or-die MOPAR-or-no-car guy in his late 70’s. I could see him picking up a new gas-powered Charger once they start throwing $20K on the hood. Best of luck Stellantis.
As to the Big Q, I’d say if Slate gets their truck out on time it ends up being them since they’re starting from nada.
> ride-or-die MOPAR-or-no-car guy
I’ve heard of guys like that. Or Ford guys, or Chevy guys. It’s usually guys.
To what can we attribute that kind of brand devotion?
With things like computers, I can see being a die-hard Apple person, because there’s a large ecosystem of things that work well together, you have an investment in the brand’s product (e.g. app store purchases, icloud storage for years of pictures, etc) so you stay with them, even during years of low quality (2016-2021 were particularly bad for apple).
But cars? Owning a Dodge doesn’t make it easier to drive your Chrysler. Money you’ve spent on Stellantis products (e.g parts) is gone: you’re not reusing those parts (unlike e.g. your app store purchases, which you may still be using today). The CEO was a thunderdouche who mistreated his customers, suppliers, and employees. The lineup is unexciting. Quality is horrible.
So what makes people cling to their brands like this?
That is such a good question, especially in The Old Man’s case – I’ve often wondered myself. On one hand, I’ve had something of the same enthusiasm for the brand Cadillac since I was in first grade or so (I was kind of a weird kid). As a company, I’ve rooted for them in way similar to how people pump their fists for sports teams they have little to no connections to (I’m not into sportsball). However, I’ve owned over 70-some cars and less than 20 of those have been Caddies, so “ride-or-die” I’m not. I’m also not going to argue about them being better in one way or another – it’s just something I like. Going back to sports, or motorsports in this case, I am super excited about their involvement in IMSA/WEC. Their entry into F1 is also something I never thought I’d see and might even get me to start watching that race series.
Growing up I remember some Ford vs. Chevy battles that really devolved into some stupidly heated arguments at a local body shop where I hung out. I could kind of understand it with a few people such as a friend’s dad who was all Ford all the time. He was the head mechanic at a Ford dealership – the brand paid his bills and thus the family drove (and raced) Fords, nothing else. He just seemed loyal.
With the Old Man it’s kind of a later-life confirmation bias. When I was a kid he was more of a Chevy/Mopar guy. He hated Fords, for what reason I don’t know. He also hated Cadillacs at the time – called them “stretched out Chevies”. At some point in the mid 2000’s he went full Mopar, and I have to laugh at what he’ll put up with from them. Just last night he stopped by and we went for supper in his Gladiator. Halfway through backing out of a parallel parking spot, the back-up camera on the screen went blank for a bit and some Jeep-information screen popped up. I don’t know what it said, but he had to press “accept” to get rid of it. Had that happened in my Volt, I’d have heard all kinds crap about it. And since he’s always taken criticism of any of his purchases strangely personal, I don’t bother offering any.
In does seem to be something of a generational thing as well, at least in my experience. I don’t see this kind of brand loyalty with anyone my age. Most of my current friends drive sensible appliance-mobiles being that they’re not enthusiasts and favor dependability over anything else.
Thanks for the reply! It’s odd. And that Jeep malfunction is classic Jeep.
I mean I’m doing my part to raise Stellantis Sales 25% by buying a Ram 1500 Laramie Crew Cab 6’4″ bed, but with the 3.0L Hurricane I6 and Air Suspension.
If I were in charge of Stellantis the absolute first thing I’d do is fix the build and price tool.
I thought I had found the Perfect truck configuration, a Bighorn with the above mentioned features and the 6 seat interior, only to learn the configurator was wrong and Ram wasn’t selling any higher trims of the 1500 with 6 seat interiors.
‘Why didn’t you get a lower trim one then?’
Because I wanted the height adjustable air suspension, it makes it easier for loading and unloading, helps the ride, helps the ground clearance when you need it, and it can compensate for shifts in tongue weight due to shifting loads (in this case livestock), and RAM like every other automaker locks the good stuff behind higher trims.
They had me for a guaranteed sale, until I learned that the Truck I wanted wasn’t available with the interior I configured, then the Ram 1500 had to compete with every other 5 seat Full Size pickup. So I told them as much and went home to do more research.
In the end the Ram 1500 still won out, but by a very slim margin, without the air suspension I wouldn’t be driving a Ram, or any other Stellantis Product.
Edit: GREAT NEWS EVERYONE! I’M GETTING THE 6 SEAT INTERIOR RAM 1500 WITH THE AIR SUSPENSION I WANT!
Because they’re dumb you can only order that configuration online, so it doesn’t show up on the dealer order options, but if you order the Big Horn 1500 online that way they can order it that way!
Congratulations on your new truck!
They do seem to try damn hard not to have customers.
So it seems. But I hope with all my being they’ll make it. It’s on order.
Seems like they don’t like the dealers much either, since they won’t let my dealer cancel my old order even though it hasn’t entered production yet, good thing the dealer thinks it’ll sell quick anyways and they were a good sport about it.
Someone recently asked “what’s your favorite dead car brand? Pontiac? Mercury? Saab?” and my answer was Nissan.
I’m going with Buick.
I read this reply and immediately thought, “this guy doesn’t get the joke: Buick is actually dead!”… then realized that no, they’re not. Which might make this the best answer.
Right now Mitsubishi has a higher chance of selling me a car than Stellantis. I wouldn’t buy one with somebody else’s money.
Unless you’re paying with cash, any purchase or lease requires using someone else’s money.
Stellantis thinks their dealers are McGuyver. “Here’s a piece of string, a paperclip, and a lighter. Build a working rifle.”
and make sure you can fit a Hemi in it…
Well… with that gear… at least a Stellantis dealer can burn down the place. The string and paperclip can be used as a delay to get to a local bar and argue with the bartender about exactly what time it is.
Well, there’s the problem. MacGyver hated guns.
Perhaps that was part of the joke? Even if it wasn’t, it is fittingly ironic.
Maybe Stellantis can just put 25% more tiny American flags out on the lot
More wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men, too.
Stellantis is gon\ing to grow sales by 25% this year. What brands are they planning to buy?
Probably ones that are having sales declines
From the context, I’m guessing that the 25% sales growth number is for US sales. It’s also possible that it means US and Canada, but Stellantis is a global company, so maybe they’re hoping for a 25% global growth? The post ought to make this more clear.
In the US, car morticians are already on standby for the Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands. The Chrysler and Dodge brands sold a combined 250k units last year. Aside from the gas Charger, there’s nothing in the pipeline that would spur growth.
That means any US growth is incumbent on Jeep and RAM numbers increasing by A LOT. RAM trucks sell well, but perpetually in last place among the (artist formerly known as) Big 3. Big RAM vans sell well on the lower end of the market, and maybe they’re bringing back a small van, which I think would sell well, but not enough to raise overall figures maybe a few percent. Jeep raised their prices too much in the last decade or so. Outside of the Wrangler, I don’t see too many folks clamoring for their SUV lineup.
It’s the US NADA, so I thought that was implied, but sorry if it wasn’t clearer.
Yeah I get it. The implication was absolutely there, as most American enthusiasts know what NADA is. But The Autopian has global readership and Stellantis is a global company, and maybe not everyone knows what NADA is about.
The US market is in general trouble, looking at the direction of the global automotive manufacturing sector.
I plan to be 25% taller next year.
I plan to be a baller.
I plan to have a girl who looks good.
……and a ’64 Impala