Shanghai, October 23 (Gasgoo.com) While General Motors and Ford Motor posted booming sales in the Chinese market, Chrysler Group, one of the Big 3 U.S. automakers, only sold a little more than 1,000 vehicles in China last month, the company said recently.
Chrysler Group LLC, which is partnered with Fiat SPA, said its total U.S. September sales plunged 42% to 62,197 vehicles from 107,349 a year ago. In the Asia Pacific region, Chrysler sold 2,024 vehicles last month, down 30% from August 2009. China led the region with 1,042 vehicle sales.
The poor sales of Chrysler are in sharp contrast to the sales surges of GM and Ford in the Chinese market. In the first nine months, GM saw its China sales jump 55.6% from a year earlier to 1.29 million vehicles, with 181,148 units sold in September.
Ford's sales in China rose 32% to 316,639 units in the Jan-Sept period. September sales of Ford-branded cars made by its Chinese venture Changan Ford Mazda more than doubled from a year earlier to 23,616 units.
Early reports said Chrysler's Jeep Compass would be the first model to be made in by the new Guangzhou-Fiat joint venture, but Chrysler said it had not signed a deal yet with Fiat's Chinese partner Guangzhou Auto to produce Jeeps in China.
Chrysler dropped out of Daimler AG's Chinese venture with Beijing Auto in late 2008, ending its nearly two decades of partnership with the Chinese automaker. Production of Chrysler sedans has almost halted in China.
In addition to its sedan imports, Chrysler has imported many Jeep models to China in recent years, such as the Grand Cherokee, Compass and Commander, Wrangler Sahara and Rubicon.
