Under former CEO Carlos Tavares, Ram killed the Hemi V-8 in its mid-size 1500 pickup in favor of a new turbocharged inline-six. With Tavares now out of the picture and Tim Kuniskis once again running the Ram brand, he quickly moved to bring the Hemi back. And now, those trucks are moving off lots quickly.
Stellantis reported its third-quarter US sales late yesterday, and one detail Automotive News brought to our attention stuck out: The company said dealers are reporting that the earliest units of the 1500 Hemi are selling within five days on average. That is almost unbelievably quick. The other fastest-selling cars of this year move after 20-30 days on dealer lots.
Of course, this is just initial demand. There was clearly a group of customers who didn’t want a six-cylinder Ram 1500, and when the Hemi trucks started arriving on lots, they moved quickly. And one has to assume that production will continue to ramp up, increasing the supply of 1500 V-8s on dealer lots.
Still, Kuniskis must be feeling pretty good about himself this morning. Especially considering Ram brand retail sales are up 26 percent year-over-year, though when you factor in total volumes, the brand is down 5 percent. But, 1500 sales are up 10 percent, and surely the reintroduction of the Hemi has something to do with that.
34
Source: Chris Rosales / Motor1
Overall, Stellantis was up 6 percent thanks to strong quarters from Jeep and Chrysler. Perhaps it saw a decent increase in sales with customers looking to get into a plug-in model before the Federal tax credit for EVs expired last month. Dodge was down 2 percent, but the Charger Daytona EV had its best quarter yet with 2,776 sales, and the Durango had its best quarter in 20 years.
But things are not all rosy for Stellantis. Fiat reported a 2-percent gain, but it sold just 321 cars last quarter; the new Charger is still well behind the old Charger and Challenger models it replaces; and Alfa Romeo is down 21 percent.
Things will get better with the coming introduction of the new Jeep Cherokee, and it seems like Dodge is figuring out how to put a V-8 back in the Charger. But it’s still a long road ahead for Stellantis.
Read the full article here
