Dodge and Ram Truck Brand Sales Results for May 2011

by Patrick Rall

Chrysler was the only American automaker to show a year over year gain in May 2011, with the Ram Truck brand helping Chrysler to post positive growth in May while the Dodge brand led the Chrysler Group in total units sold.

The Dodge brand had a rough month, posting a decline in sales from May
2010 to May 2011 of 5% but with 40,200 vehicles sold, the Dodge brand
was the top dog in terms of sales volume for the Chrysler Group.  While
the Caliber, Avenger, Charger, Challenger, Viper, and Journey all showed
declines compared to the same month one year ago, the awesome new 2011
Dodge Durango was a huge part of helping the Dodge brand only show a
decline of 5%.  With 4,358 Durango units sold, the sexy sport ute posted
an increase of 217,800%…that’s right…217,800%.  The next best model
from Dodge in terms of growth was the Nitro with a 7% gain in sales
coming from 1,900 new models sold in May.

The Dodge Grand Caravan
lineup was the top model from the Dodge brand in terms of units sold
with 9,427 minivans accounting for an improvement of less than 1% – but
at least it was an improvement.  The Caravan was followed in sales
volume by the 2011 Dodge Charger with 7,830 sedans sold (a decline of
19% over last year) and the Avenger with 5,543 units sold (-12%).  Next
in line in May 2011 sales was the Durango followed by the Caliber (4,002
units), the Journey (3,706 units), the Challenger (3,418 units), and
then the Nitro (1,900).  Last and most certainly not least, the Dodge
Viper moved 16 units in May 2011 for a decline of 38% from last
year…which isn’t bad considering that it has been out of production
for months.

The Ram Truck brand had a strong month in May 2011,
showing a sales growth compared to May 2010 of 13%.  This positive
growth was due to a strong month by the Ram Pickup which moved 20,117 –
an increase of 16% over the 17,298 trucks sold in May last year.  The
Dakota, on the other hand, saw a decline in sales of 16% as sales
dropped from 1,610 a year ago to 1,350 last month.  The Dakota is
heading into its final few months of production and with no concrete
evidence of what is coming next, many Dodge fans are concerned that the
next generation of the compact Ram pickup could be a less capable
unibody truck -similar to the famously unpopular Honda Ridgeline.

Helping
Dodge and Ram boost the Chrysler Group into the black last month was
the Jeep brand with a year over year growth of 55% thanks to the new
Jeep Grand Cherokee along with the new Fiat 500, which sent out 1,759
models.  The Chrysler brand continued to struggle in what was a rough
month for automakers – declining in sales by 21% compared to last year.