Jamie L. LaReau Detroit Free Press Published 4:00 PM ET Jan 3, 2025 I Updated 6:11 PM ET Jan 3, 2025
Stellantis on Friday reported its U.S. sales for 2024 plummeted 15% from 2023 to 1.3 million vehicles. For the fourth quarter, the automaker, which owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands, reported a 7% U.S. sales decline to 320,743 vehicles sold compared with the same period in 2023.
Stellantis reported sales declines across all of its brands except low-volume Fiat. Its moneymaking Ram pickup finished the year with sales of 373,120, a 16% decline from 2023. In the quarter, sales of Ram pickups dropped 7% to 104,454 vehicles sold. That means for the first time in at least a decade, the Ram is not the third best-selling vehicle in the United States behind the Chevrolet Silverado and the perennial leader, Ford's F-Series pickups, said Mark Schirmer of Cox Automotive. Toyota's RAV4 SUV moved into the No. 3 spot.
Even its prized Jeep brand finished the year down 9%, selling 587,725 Jeeps.
Analysts expected a quarterly sales decline and weak full-year results, given Stellantis had signaled ongoing challenges in its key North American operations earlier this fall and it had lowered its financial guidance for the year. So while the results were to be expected, they also could have been worse, said Ivan Drury, director of industry insights at Edmunds.com.
"With turmoil at Stellantis ranging from the top to the bottom, a sales slip of only 15% is a near miracle," Drury said. "Especially when considering Stellantis has a lineup that is devoid of new, affordable products during a time in which price is top of mind for so many consumers, and even for those that are looking for more fun than function, the delayed launch of the Charger/Challenger duo has left many Dodge dealers with empty lots, so anything less than a complete landslide can be seen as a win."
New vehicles are coming to market
Drury said this year will be challenging for Stellantis as it selects new leadership that is likely to come under heavy scrutiny from dealers, who revolted against CEO Carlos Tavares before his resignation last month. Drury said he expects it will take more than a year to address all of Stellantis' underlying issues.
But Stellantis leaders said Friday the outlook is positive.
“As we head into 2025, our U.S. brands are demonstrating strong sales momentum, with our (second half) retail sales showing 4% growth over the first half of the year’s results,” Jeff Kommor, head of U.S. sales, said in a statement. “We also saw our total sales increase 5% in the fourth quarter over the third quarter."
Kommor said changes to prices and more incentives across the brands lineups in the second half of the year helped reduce dealership inventory ahead of schedule, "allowing our dealers to prepare consumers for the introduction of all new vehicles to the market, including from Jeep, Ram and Dodge."
How each brand did
Cox Automotive's Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough predicted in December that Stellantis' U.S. sales for the full year would be down 15%, "which will cost them 1.6% of market share. All of their brands are down so far this year. They’ve had a very, very tough situation.”
Stellantis has four all-electric vehicles in the U.S.: the Fiat 500e, Dodge Charger Daytona, Jeep Wagoneer S and Ram ProMaster EV. It will introduce the Jeep Recon and the Ramcharger in 2025.
Among its brands, only low-volume Fiat registered an increase. Its full-year sales rose 154% to 1,528 vehicles sold. Among the other brands, Jeep fell 9%, Ram dropped 19%, Chrysler fell 7%, Dodge declined 29% and Alfa Romeo decreased 19%. The company did not release sales numbers for its luxury Maserati brand.
Kommor noted that, not counting fleet business, Stellantis had gains. The company’s U.S. fourth quarter sales to retail customers increased by 1% compared with same period last year.
"With the arrival of new products in 2025, including the addition of the Jeep Wagoneer S, the Jeep Recon and the replacement for the Jeep Cherokee, which re-enters North America's largest segment with a hybrid powertrain, we're creating further opportunity for sales growth and continuing to strengthen our position in the marketplace," Kommor said.
Stellantis' results were notably worse than those reported Friday by General Motors and Ford Motor Co. GM reported Friday that its U.S. sales rose 4% for all of 2024 compared with the year before, marking its best year-over-year gain since 2019. The automaker reported it sold more than 2.7 million new vehicles in the states, compared with 2.6 million new vehicles in 2023. For the fourth quarter, GM reported selling 755,160 new vehicles, a 21% gain compared with the year-ago quarter.
Ford reported that U.S. new vehicle sales rose 4% to nearly 2.1 million vehicles last year compared with 2023, an increase driven by sales of trucks. The Dearborn-based automaker reported sales of trucks jumped by 7% in 2024, with sales of the Maverick rising nearly 40% and Transit sales increasing by more than 18%. For the fourth quarter, its new vehicles rose by nearly 9% to 530,660 vehicles compared with the same period in 2023.
Stellantis, which celebrated its fourth anniversary in January following the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot, has had a troubled year and is shopping for a new CEO after Tavares resigned. In 2023, Stellantis reported nearly $20 billion in profits, an 11% bump from the year prior. But this year, profits have plummeted, contributing to Tavares leaving. Stellantis dealers attributed “reckless short-term decision-making” in order to secure those profits as leading to the “rapid degradation” of the company’s American brands. The company, in response, touted some recent improvements in market share and sales and in reducing inventory, which has become a big drag on the company.
