Sales are Fiat Chrysler Automobiles increased in January by 8% from the same period one year ago, despite multiple snowstorms and extremely cold temperatures that hit most of the U.S. during most of the month. However, Ford blamed Mother Nature for its drop in sales of 7% during the month.
Ford in January sold 154,641 vehicles with a drop of nearly 1% in F-Series sales to 46,535. For Ford, the bright spots included the Mustang, which was nearly 8% higher to 3,880. Ford brand vehicles’ sales overall dropped by over 8%, with Lincoln up close to 43% due to the strength of the MKZ.
Ford said where the weather was not as harsh, such as out west, sales increased. The poor weather was also responsible for impacting some of Ford’s fleet deliveries. Lincoln was a bright spot, which enjoyed its strongest sales over the past four years.
However, at Chrysler, it was the 46th straight monthly increase for sales year to year for the automaker based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The new Ram pickups and Cherokee helped the sales for the company in January.
Jeep led the January performance of the automakers with a sales increase of 38%, followed by 29% at Fiat, while Ram had a 22% increase and Chrysler was up 2%. Dodge saw its sales fall by 19%.
The other automakers were expected to release sales figures for January during the day on Monday.
Harsh weather in January meant sales would likely be compensated by an increase in February, according to industry experts.
However, even with a small decrease in sales in comparison to last January, the overall sales for the industry continued to be the highest in years.
Both J.D. Power and LMC Automotive have more optimistic forecasts for February and believe there will be a 3% increase for industry sales during the month.
