If you’re wondering just how bad things got for Stellantis last year, consider the fact that its Ram pickup fell off the podium, losing its traditional third-place position in the U.S. sales race – behind the Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado – to Toyota’s RAV4 SUV. Overall, the Euro-American automaker was one of only two manufacturers to report a decline in sales in 2024 and faces serious challenges to turn things around in 2025.
Ram appeared to make a mistake by dropping the Hemi V-8 from the pickup’s options, according to analysts.
Few products deliver the sort of profits that full-size pickups muster. So it’s no surprise that Stellantis took a big hit on the bottom line last year considering the fact that demand for its full-size Ram pickups fell a whopping 16% last year. Adding insult to that injury, the truck, normally America’s third best-selling vehicle line, was knocked off the podium by the Toyota RAV4.
Stellantis was one of only two automakers to see its sales decline in 2024, the Dutch-based automaker by far the biggest loser, suggesting the company’s fourth-quarter collapse was a key reason for CEO Carlos Tavares sudden departure.
The automakers U.S. operations reported sales dropped by 7% in the fourth quarter and fell by 15% for the full year as its unit sales dropped to 1,303,570 unions, leaving it mired in fifth place behind General Motors, Toyota, Ford and Honda.
Ram’s new pickup misses the market
Toyota’s RAV4 gained momentum in recent months, ultimately taking the #3 spot in 2024 U.S. vehicle sales.
The Ram brand experienced one of the biggest declines of all the Stellantis brands offered in the U.S., dropping 19% for the full year. The automaker didn’t expect that to happen when it launched a much-ballyhooed remake of its big pickup for 2024.
Despite initially positive reviews, the truck failed to connect with buyers, many traditional customers disappointed to find that Ram had dropped the familiar Hemi V-8 as an option for the new model, opting instead to go with a turbocharged V-6 as its most powerful offering.
The impact was clearly felt on the bottom line, as the Ram pickup has long been the big profit generator for the automaker and its predecessors, going back to the old Chrysler Corp. Hefty incentives did build back demand during the final quarter of the year, but even then, sales of the pickup were down 7% year-over-year. For all of 2024, the truck was down 16%.
The impact was underscored by the fact that total sales for the year came in at just 373,120, ceding that third-place spot to the RAV4, Toyota delivering 475,193 of the compact SUVs, a 9.3% increase. The truck was also passed by the Honda CR-V which saw sales totaling 402,791.
Jeep loses its way, and the rest of the brands follow
The Jeep Wagoneer was one of the brand’s few models to post a gain in 2024.
In the U.S. market, at least, there wasn’t much good news for Stellantis in any form last year. True, Fiat actually reported a 154% increase in sales but that translated into sales of just 1,528 vehicles – for the entire year.
Chrysler was down 7% year-over-year, Alfa Romeo was off 19%, and Dodge dropped 29%. The decline at the muscle car brand was the only slip anticipated from the beginning of 2024 as Dodge had intentionally dropped its old Challenger and Charger models. But it didn’t help that the launch of the all-new, all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona was seriously delayed.
The other big hit came at Jeep, the off-road brand’s sales tumbling by 9% in 2024, falling below 600,000 units. Emerging from the COVID pandemic, Jeep was expected to help get Stellantis back on track as another traditional profit generator. But only a small handful of its model lines were in positive territory for the year, the Compass up 16%, the Wagoneer gaining 48% and Grand Wagoneer rising 13% for all of 2024. The Grand Cherokee remained the brand’s best-seller but delivered a 12% drop in sales, the flagship Wrangler losing 3%.
More Stellantis News
- Boosted by Hefty Incentives, U.S. Car Sales Surge in 2024
- Tavares Resignation Could Leave Stellantis Rudderless
- First Drive: 2024 Ram 1500
Stellantis plugs in
The Jeep Wrangler 4xe is now the best-selling PHEV in the U.S.
A variety of factors contributed to the fall of Stellantis in the U.S., including some missteps that former CEO Carlos Tavares attributed to his own “arrogance” last year. That ultimately led to his resignation “with immediate effect” six weeks ago. A successor has yet to be named.
But the Portugese-born executive’s strategy will begin playing out in earnest in many ways this year. Under Tavares, Stellantis ramped up its electrification strategy and a number of all-electric models will start rolling into showrooms this year, including that Dodge Charger Daytona, as well as the Jeep Wagoneer S and Recon models and the Ram 1500 REV.
In one of the automaker’s rare success stories for 2024, it captured a 41% share of the U.S. plug-in hybrid market last year, with three of the top five spots among best-selling PHEVs. The Jeep Wrangler 4xe was number one, the Grabd Cherokee was number three and the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid was fourth on the list.
A positive spin
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares resigned immediately. A replacement has yet to be named.
Despite its challenges, Stellantis officials found some positives amidst the year’s setbacks.
As we head into 2025, our U.S. brands are demonstrating strong sales momentum, with our H2 retail sales showing 4% growth over the first half of the year’s results,” said Jeff Kommor, head of U.S. sales.
“We also saw our total sales increase 5% in the fourth quarter over the third quarter. The pricing and incentive actions that we put in place across our brand portfolios in the second half of the year led our U.S. dealer inventory levels to be reduced 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.”
Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this report.
0 Comments