range Posted April 29, 2006 Share Posted April 29, 2006 LINK Chrysler's fleet sales ballooned to 34 percent of overall sales, from 30.6 percent the same period a year ago. I guess that explains all of the Magnums, Chargers and 300s at Thrifty Rent a Car, and National, and Alamo, and ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinb120 Posted April 29, 2006 Share Posted April 29, 2006 yup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Reynolds Posted April 29, 2006 Share Posted April 29, 2006 Well I think those that failed to purchase Chrysler Blinders, saw this in the works a while ago. What I did find funny is how Chrysler, and the dealer network, no longer want to be associated with the Big 3. All of a sudden the company that produced the Neon, still has subpar quality, and relies on fleet sales as much as GM and Ford, feels that they are the Toyota and Honda of the US Automakers all because of a slight bump in market share. Classic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted April 29, 2006 Share Posted April 29, 2006 (edited) But Ford's fleet sales of 41% is good? (Up over 6%) Edited April 29, 2006 by Intrepidatious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecon Posted April 29, 2006 Share Posted April 29, 2006 The market is tough. Dog eat dog. But DCX still posted a profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
range Posted April 29, 2006 Author Share Posted April 29, 2006 (edited) But Ford's fleet sales of 41% is good? (Up over 6%) Not quite.... "Ford's fleet sales accounted for 33 percent of its March total for the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands, company sales analyst George Pipas said on a conference call." Strip out the dedicated fleet vehicles Taurus, Crown Vic and the percentage changes dramatically. The question is why is Chrysler's fleet number going up, and why are they stockpiling unsold cars when they are supposedly doing soooo well they don't even want to be part of the Big 3 any more? Edited April 29, 2006 by range Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 (edited) Not quite.... "Ford's fleet sales accounted for 33 percent of its March total for the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands, company sales analyst George Pipas said on a conference call." Strip out the dedicated fleet vehicles Taurus, Crown Vic and the percentage changes dramatically. The question is why is Chrysler's fleet number going up, and why are they stockpiling unsold cars when they are supposedly doing soooo well they don't even want to be part of the Big 3 any more? Sorry, I was looking at Feb's fleet sales. As for percentages...I agree, it goes both ways....strip out the dedicated sales of the lame-duck Stratus, Sebring and left over Neons and the percentages change dramatically as well. Edited April 30, 2006 by Intrepidatious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
range Posted April 30, 2006 Author Share Posted April 30, 2006 Sorry, I was looking at Feb's fleet sales. As for percentages...I agree, it goes both ways....strip out the dedicated sales of the lame-duck Stratus, Sebring and left over Neons and the percentages change dramatically as well. Stratus, Neon and Sebring as a percentage of sales have gone down while the fleet percentage has gone up, the only way that happens is for the other models to increase their fleet sales. Its the 300s and Magnum and Chargers that have flooded the daily rental fleets and the stockpiles of unsold vehicles stored around Detroit that should be concerning for Chrysler. Instead Chrysler is pretending to not belong to the Big 3 anymore despite the above mentioned problems and some of the highest incentives in the marketplace....sounds like Big 3 to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecon Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Stratus, Neon and Sebring as a percentage of sales have gone down while the fleet percentage has gone up, the only way that happens is for the other models to increase their fleet sales. Its the 300s and Magnum and Chargers that have flooded the daily rental fleets and the stockpiles of unsold vehicles stored around Detroit that should be concerning for Chrysler. Instead Chrysler is pretending to not belong to the Big 3 anymore despite the above mentioned problems and some of the highest incentives in the marketplace....sounds like Big 3 to me. Stratus, and Sebring will be replaced by the end of 2006 and the Caliber has replaced the Neon and is selling well. The Taurus (Fords no1 selling car) will be replaced by? The loss of Taurus sales alone will be a loss of 1% of market share. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llog215 Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Stratus, and Sebring will be replaced by the end of 2006 and the Caliber has replaced the Neon and is selling well. The Taurus (Fords no1 selling car) will be replaced by? The loss of Taurus sales alone will be a loss of 1% of market share. What does that mean? Do you have any numbers that support Caliber sales? Personally, it reminds me of an Asstec....I saw two next to each other and I couldn't believe the similarities. As stated many times before, the 500 and Fusion are positioned to make up the loss of Taurus sales and they will sell a greater retail percentage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 As stated many times before, the 500 and Fusion are positioned to make up the loss of Taurus sales and they will sell a greater retail percentage. Will?? They already HAVE been since the day they were introduced. The Taurus hasn't been anywhere close to even 50% retail sales for years. And once again, must it be pointed out that sales for both the Fusion and Five Hundred should increase rather dramatically once the Taurus is no longer offered as the bargain-basement crap alternative to fleet buyers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecon Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 The "Way Forward" should be called the "Follow the yellow brick road plan". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swenson88 Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Personally I think marketshare should only count vehicles sold to retail customers, which would include all non-rental fleet sales as well. I think including sales to rental car companies is almost sleazy, since many rental car companies have contracts with one automaker over another anyways which distorts the true selling process. In that sense, who the hell would care if the Taurus disappeared? I know Bluecon seems to think Ford's world is going to end because they're not selling the fleet-special Taurus, but that's so irrelevant. Yes, Ford's sales numbers will be lower once the Taurus is gone, but any analyst worth a shit will clearly be able to tell the difference between selling a Fusion or 500 near MSRP to a retail customer and selling a Taurus for pennies to Hertz or Enterprise. Again, profits keep companies in business, not sales numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Personally I think marketshare should only count vehicles sold to retail customers, which would include all non-rental fleet sales as well. I think including sales to rental car companies is almost sleazy, since many rental car companies have contracts with one automaker over another anyways which distorts the true selling process. In that sense, who the hell would care if the Taurus disappeared? I know Bluecon seems to think Ford's world is going to end because they're not selling the fleet-special Taurus, but that's so irrelevant. Yes, Ford's sales numbers will be lower once the Taurus is gone, but any analyst worth a shit will clearly be able to tell the difference between selling a Fusion or 500 near MSRP to a retail customer and selling a Taurus for pennies to Hertz or Enterprise. Again, profits keep companies in business, not sales numbers. Let's not forget that "fleet sales" entails much more than just RENTAL cars. You have taxi cabs, emergency service vehicles, government vehicles, construction vehicles, delivery vehicles, and many many small companies who qualify for fleet discounts by buying just 3-4 vehicles for their employees at a time. Sales are sales when it comes to keeping assembly lines efficient. Certainly there needs to be a balance to keep things profitable on the sales end of things, but fleet sales will always play a pivotal role in the health of large automakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Thus decreasing resale values, something that turns a lot of buyers off. The Taurus should be kept around just for that fact. The Camry has a pretty significant percentage of fleet buyers now. I don't see it hurting their residuals. Resale value is more a perception of reliability than anything else. Even if zero Tauruses went to fleets it would still have no resale value becuase it's perceived to be a piece of garbage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grbeck Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 The Camry has a pretty significant percentage of fleet buyers now. I don't see it hurting their residuals. Resale value is more a perception of reliability than anything else. Even if zero Tauruses went to fleets it would still have no resale value becuase it's perceived to be a piece of garbage. About 10-14 percent of Camrys go to fleets, if I recall correctly. If Toyota starts dumping 25-35 percent of Camry production into fleets, the Camry's resale value will tank, too. Toyotas aren't immune to the laws of supply and demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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