The 2021 truck wars are heating up and Ram is whipping the Chevy Silverado once again for second place. Sales for the first quarter are stronger than last year which is partially attributed to COVID-19 starting to hit hard in 2020. What’s striking is that Ram has seen a 25% increase in retail results year-over-year.

Ram sales in 2020 were almost 563,000 trucks

Stellantis sold almost 563,000 trucks in 2020, down from almost 634,000 sold in 2019-its best year ever. “In spite of what started out as a strong start last year, before COVID shocked us all, this quarter was a very strong rebound for retail sales year over year,” U.S. Head of Sales Jeff Kommor told the Detroit Freep. “The consumer demand for our brands and our products was extremely strong throughout the quarter.”  

So far Ram sales have topped 148,836 pickups which is a 16% increase. Chevy Silverado sales were down 12.5% with 126,591 finding buyers in the first quarter. Ford’s F-150 was up 9% with 203,797 trucks sold. Also, Jeep Wrangler had the best first quarter in its history. So things are jumpin’ at Stellantis.

Fiat sold a whopping 815 cars for the entire quarter in the US

That’s not to say everything is jumping there. Fiat sold a whopping 815 cars for the entire quarter in the US. Things are not looking good for Fiat which has seen sales continually dive. While we’ve heard positive things come from the Stellantis merger for Alfa Romeo, there has been silence over Fiat’s future.

While Alfa sales were up 25% year-over-year, Dodge and Fiat both dropped by 28%. Dodge in particular has not seen a new model or significant refresh for any of its products in years. We are expecting some of the new Peugeot and Citroen models to be rebadged as Dodge and Chrysler going forward. But that still may be a year or two off into the future. 

In March buyers drove up Ram sales by 28%

Ram had its best retail sales month ever in March. In March buyers drove up Ram sales by 28% year-over-year. But the coming months are clouded by the continuing semiconductor chip shortage. Already in 2021 Stellantis had to shut down five plants including the Warren Truck Assembly plant. 

Ram 1500 production has not been interrupted so far. But it remains to be seen if the chip shortage will ultimately affect Ram production in the coming months. Some chip manufacturers say they won’t be caught up with demand until 2022. Most auto manufacturers have sacrificed lesser-selling brand production to keep higher-production and profit models going. We imagine that Stellantis will do the same for Ram and Jeep production. 

In all overall sales for the former Fiat Chrysler Company were down 17% in 2020. It sold 1.8 million vehicles in total. This current quarter will be the first full quarter for the newly-formed Stellantis merger of Fiat Chrysler and the Peugeot Group.