Fiat Chrysler U.S. December auto sales up 20 percent, lag expectations

[January 05, 2015]  By Bernie Woodall and Ben Klayman

DETROIT (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles  said its U.S. sales rose 20 percent on strong Jeep SUV and pickup truck sales but still missed expectations of analysts.

FCA's sales of 193,261 for the month were the highest for the company once known as Chrysler since 2006. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected FCA's sales to be about 196,500 vehicles.

Nissan Motor Co's <7201.T> December U.S. sales narrowly topped and Honda Motor Co <7267.T) sales fell short of expectations.

A Reuters poll of 11 analysts showed expectations of a 10.5 percent gain for all U.S. new-vehicle sales over last December.

Low gasoline prices helped boost pickup truck and large SUV sales in the month, analysts said.

And a separate poll of 35 economists polled by Thomson Reuters showed that they expect on average an annualized selling rate for December of 16.9 million vehicles, the highest for the month since before the 2008-2009 industry downturn.

Each month, auto sales are an early indicator of consumer spending.

FCA's Ram truck brand showed pickup up 32 percent at 44,222. Sales for the Chrysler 200 midsize sedan of 16,229 were up 187 percent from a year ago. FCA's Dodge brand sales fell 2 percent in December.

For the year, FCA's sales rose 16 percent to 2.09 million.

Nissan on Monday said its U.S. sales rose 7 percent to 117,318 vehicles, and that 2014 sales of 1.39 million vehicles were a company record.

However, while Honda's U.S. sales rose 1.5 percent to 137,281 vehicles, that was well short of analysts' expectations of about 143,000 vehicles. For the year, Honda showed sales up 1 percent at 1.54 million vehicles.

Sales of Nissan's top-seller, the Altima sedan, rose 30 percent in December.

Nissan and Honda were the first major auto companies to report U.S. December sales.

Kelley Blue Book on Monday said the average transaction price for a new vehicle sold in the U.S. market in December reached a record $34,367, up 2.5 percent from a year ago.

Pricing fell 1.2 percent for hybrid and other alternative fuel cars as gasoline prices continued to fall. The low gas prices in turn helped boost pickup truck sales, which normally experience strong sales in December, said Alec Gutierrez, analyst with Kelley Blue Book.

General Motors Co. December transaction prices rose 4 percent from a year earlier, to $38,816, KBB said.

(Editing W Simon)

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