Stellantis has reported that in the fourth quarter, new vehicle sales declined 16% to 347,669 vehicles; the sixth consecutive quarter of sales declines.
The automaker also reported overall sales fell 13% to 1,547,076 vehicles in 2022. But sales of the company's plug-in hybrid electric vehicles increased 21% in the fourth quarter and 26% year-over-year, Stellantis reported. Sales of the company’s plug-in hybrid Jeep Wrangler 4xe, for instance, increased 46% year over year.
Stellantis plans for half of its sales mix to be EVs by the end of the decade.
“We saw strong demand for our [plug-in hybrid] offerings in the face of industry market conditions that carried across 2021 into 2022, including production constraints and a disruption of parts and materials in general, which adversely affected our overall sales,” U.S. Head of Sales Jeff Kommor said.
"As we look to 2023 and navigate the industry transformations that are occurring, we will continue to work closely with our customers to meet their demands and the needs of our dealer network," Kommor said.
The new Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe, which Stellantis introduced in late 2021, accounted for 11% of the nameplate’s sales. Stellantis has announced its Jeep brand will have fully electric offerings, including the Jeep Recon and Wagoneer S, by 2024.
Still, with all the automaker’s planning for the Jeep brand in the years ahead, Jeep brand sales dropped 18% to 143,317 in the fourth quarter. Jeep sales declined 12% to 684,614 for the year.
Chrysler sales were also down, falling 39% to 25,052 in the fourth quarter and dipping 2% to 112,713 for the year. Fiat sales fell 56% to 118 for the quarter and 61% to 915 units for the year. Alfa Romeo sales slumped 25% to 3,031 for the quarter and declined 30% to 12,845 for the year. The popular Ram pickup also saw sales fall 15% to 129,873 in the fourth quarter, while the Ram brand, which includes vans and pickups, fell 16% to 545,194 for the year. The Ram pickup sold 468,344, falling short of the Chevy Silverado, which sold 523,249 units for the full year.
The company’s Dodge brand saw a 15% gain, selling 46,278 units in the fourth quarter. However, for the year, Dodge was down 12% to 190,795.
Stellantis did not provide sales numbers for Maserati.
General Motors also reported its quarterly and annual sales this week. The automaker’s U.S. sales rose 41% in the fourth quarter while new vehicle sales in the U.S. for the year rose 3% to 2,274,088 new cars sold. The automaker reported most of these gains came from replenishing inventory of pickups and SUVs.
Toyota reported its quarterly and yearly sales as well. Toyota's sales rose 13.1% in the fourth quarter. The automaker also reported it sold 2,108,458 cars for the year, a 9.6% decline from the year-ago period. Electric vehicles made up nearly a quarter of the automaker’s total sales volume.
That means the price markups dealers tacked onto new cars last year will be reduced and incentives will be slowly added with a larger proportion of sales allocated to rental fleets, said Krelle, adding those are "all normal indicators after what has been an abnormal few years."
A previous version of this story incorrectly listed the full Ram brand sales figure for the year as a comparison with the Chevrolet Silverado pickup full year sales. The correct Ram pickup sales number is 468,344 putting it behind the Silverado in annual sales.
