Home > Article
VOL. 38 | NO. 26 | Friday, June 27, 2014
Chrysler's US sales up 9 percent in June
DETROIT (AP) — Chrysler's U.S. auto sales jumped 9 percent in June on strong sales of the new Jeep Cherokee SUV and other models.
Chrysler sold just over 171,086 vehicles in the month. It was the company's strongest June since 2007, with gains for the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Fiat brands.
Chrysler likely beat the rest of the industry in June. Car buying site TrueCar.com expected overall sales to be up 1 percent over last June to 1.4 million cars and trucks.
June sales are expected to have slowed slightly from May, which had more weekends and saw a boost from delayed sales after the long winter. But the pace was still strong, TrueCar said.
Based on June sales, auto data firm LMC Automotive raised its full-year U.S. sales forecast from 16.1 million to 16.2 million. That's up from 15.6 million vehicles in 2013.
LMC said automakers are carefully balancing production with demand, which helps them maintain profits. At the same time, buyers are taking advantage of lower interest rates.
"The U.S. auto market is arguably in the best position and health it has been in since well before the great recession," said Jeff Schuster, LMC's senior vice president of forecasting.