Chevy Outsold Dodge, Ram, Chrysler And Jeep Combined In Q1 2023

A long-standing automotive rivalry involves Chevrolet vs. Mopar, which today includes the Dodge, Ram, Chrysler, and Jeep brands. While it’s not quite the knock down drag out fight of Chevy vs Ford, Dodge / Mopar still represent a healthy rivalry within the the Detroit Big Three, and so it is a sales battle worth writing about, which is what we’ll do here today for the first quarter of 2023.

During Q1 2023, total Chevy sales in the U.S. market grew 16 percent to 398,141 units. Meanwhile, the four Mopar brands posted a total of 365,799 deliveries, outsold by the Bow Tie brand by over 32K units.

Sales Results - Q1 2023 - USA - Chevrolet

As has been the case, the Chevy Silverado was again the best-selling model for the Bow Tie brand by a wide margin, netting 126,992 units to account for nearly a third of overall sales. Comparatively, the most popular Mopar model was the Silverado’s direct rival, the Ram Pickup, which posted 105,350 deliveries during the quarter. Similar to the Silverado, the Ram Pickup accounted for nearly a third of overall Mopar sales. The two full-size truck lines continue to represent the respective marques’ bread-and-butter from sales volume and financial standpoints.

Sales Results - Q1 2023 - USA - Dodge

Sales Results - Q1 2023 - USA - Ram

Sales Results - Q1 2023 - USA - Chrysler

Sales Results - Q1 2023 - USA - Jeep

Meanwhile, the Chevy vehicle to experience the largest sales growth was the all-electric Bolt EV along with its slightly larger sibling, the Bolt EUV, for reasons listed in the EV Sales section below. Besides those two models, the Trailblazer led with a very healthy 225 percent leap, followed by the Malibu with a 46 percent bump, and the Traverse with a 35 rise. Over 40 percent of Chevy models posted a decrease in sales.

For Mopar, the Ram ProMaster City van posted the top growth movement at 232 percent, followed by the ProMaster at 90 percent. The Dodge Charger placed third in growth among U.S. Mopar models at 43 percent.

Dodge overall posted a 24 percent bump, Ram fell seven percent, Chrysler grew 10 percent, and Jeep slid 20 percent. For Jeep, only one model – the discontinued Cherokee – posted growth, while the rest were in the red.

Sales Results - Q1 2023 - USA - GMC

Since GMC models are often cross-shopped against Chevy models, with GMC even taking some sales away from Chevy as the two serve similar customers, then including those two GM marques here makes sense. Doing so widens the gap to put GM ahead of Mopar, with Chevy and GMC sales combining for 528,749 deliveries to Mopar’s 365,799 – a gap of nearly 163K units.

Car Sales

Chevy vastly outsold Dodge and Chrysler, the only Mopar brands in U.S. selling cars, by nearly 17K deliveries in the passenger car segment during Q1 2023. Chevy car sales in the U.S. grew 28 percent to 53,272 units, mostly thanks to the Malibu. Corvette sales were down not because of low demand but rather because GM can’t make enough of “America’s sports car” due to ongoing parts shortages.

Meanwhile, combined Dodge and Chrysler car sales rose 25 percent to 36,488 units.

Sales Numbers - Chevy Cars - Q1 2023 - USA

Specifically, the Bow Tie brand currently offers the Camaro, Corvette, and Malibu, while the Sonic and Impala, and Spark have been discontinued. Spark sales here show remaining inventory being sold off as the city car was dropped at the end of the 2022 model year.

For Mopar, which sells three cars, the Dodge Charger led the, er, charge with a 43 jump in sales to 22,128 units. The Dodge Challenger sold about half as many units with a two percent bump to 11,371 deliveries, followed by the Chrysler 300 with a nine percent increase to only 2,989 units.

Sales Numbers - Dodge/Chrysler Cars - Q1 2023 - USA

All three Mopar cars saw gains, while Bow Tie’s cars saw a mixed bag. Notably, the two Dodge muscle cars, the Challenger and Charger, individually outsold the Chevy Camaro. Though Mopar currently has no answer for the Corvette from its American brands, its parent Stellantis, has a few under the Maserati marque.

Crossover Sales

Regarding the massive crossover market, Chevy again outsold Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep in Q1 2023 by over 12K units. Chevy crossover sales grew by 36 percent to 153,814 units, while those of Mopar slipped 12 percent to 141,439 units, with crossovers in the U.S. being sold just by its Dodge and Jeep brands. In this space we’re also including the two minivans sold by Mopar in the U.S., namely the Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Pacifica, which additionally offers a plug-in hybrid variant.

We include those two models because only a handful of minivan models are sold in the U.S. at this point and specifically the Caravan and Pacifica are the only two by domestic brands. Moreover, the Caravan has already been discontinued, and so that leaves the Pacifica left as the lone domestic minivan. Hence, we just include that model here among crossovers. Like the crossovers, minivans similarly are upright unibody vehicles designed to move people and their stuff. They differ by having sliding rear doors instead of regular opening ones, and are usually taller inside than crossovers, but similar enough in most other aspects.

Sales Numbers - Chevy Crossovers - Q1 2023 - USA

For Chevy, besides the comeback sales of the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV, the Trailblazer showed the greatest growth, but the Equinox was the sales leader with 52,902, accounting for over a third of all Bow Tie brand’s crossover deliveries. were in the red. It was followed by the Traverse at 31,533 units and Trailblazer with 27,951 deliveries.

Sales Numbers - Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep Crossovers - Q1 2023 - USA

Meanwhile, the Jeep Cherokee showed the greatest growth with a 31 bump to 13,213 units. But the popular Jeep Grand Cherokee was by far the sales leader with 54,502 deliveries, followed, interestingly, enough by the Chrysler Pacifica at 28,910 units and the Jeep Compass with 23,209 deliveries.

Notably, the first and second generation of the Dodge Durango was a body-on-frame SUV and will once again revisit that form for its upcoming and likely last fourth generation, reportedly based on the Jeep Wagoneer platform. But in its current third generation it is a unibody crossover, reporting a 22 percent bump in sales to 17,467 units. Like the Caravan, the Dodge Journey has been discontinued, so sales of each of those model simply show remaining inventory being sold off.

A brand new model on the way for Mopar is a subcompact crossover called the Dodge Hornet, revealed this past fall as a Chevy Trailblazer rival. Like the Pacifica, it also offers a plug-in hybrid variant. The Hornet will show up on future comparisons once we have sales data for it.

Sales Numbers - Chevy & GMC Crossovers - Q1 2023 - USA

When we add GMC crossovers to the mix, GM outsells Mopar by over 46K units.

SUV Sales

Mopar managed to edge out Chevy in body-on-frame SUV sales due mostly due to the widely popular and versatile Jeep Wrangler and the addition of the new Jeep Wagoneer and Jeep Grand Wagoneer. In fact, Wrangler sales alone at 37,971 units close in on Bow Tie brand sales of 41,189 deliveries, made up of its popular Tahoe and Suburban. The Wagoneer models push Jeep over the top.

While Jeep is the only Mopar brand in the U.S. selling SUVs, the Dodge Durango will return into this space in the future as we noted above.

Sales Numbers - Chevy SUV Sales - Q1 2023 - USA

The Tahoe and Suburban combined for 41,189 deliveries, up 13 percent.

Sales Numbers - Jeep SUVs - Q1 2023 - USA

Sales of all three Jeep SUVs were in the red, combining for an 18 percent drop. The Jeep Grand Wagoneer is a premium SUV that goes beyond the Bow Tie brand’s offerings and price points.

Sales Numbers - GM SUV Sales - Q1 2023 - USA

However, throwing in Chevy’s corporate cousins into the mix that are cross-shopped by most of the same buyers, GMC SUV sales combined with those of the Bow Tie brand give GM the edge with 60,912 deliveries, over 15K more than Mopar. Adding GMC models to the mix is perhaps most fitting in this space because the GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate trim more accurately competes with Jeep Grand Wagoneer including the extended-length Yukon XL and the Grand Wagoneer L, respectively. While the Wagoneer competes more directly with the Tahoe and Yukon including the extended-length Wagoneer L and Suburban and Yukon XL, respectively, in regard to GMC Yukon trims below the Denali Ultimate.

Truck Sales

The biggest battle between Chevy and Mopar remains the full-size Chevy Silverado versus the Ram Pickup, which was previously marketed under the Dodge brand. In Q1 2023, Chevy outperformed Ram plus Jeep Gladiator truck sales combined, moving 141,271 units, down two percent, compared to the 118,925 Ram deliveries, down 18 percent, selling over 22K more units.

Sales Numbers - Chevy Truck Sales - Q1 2023 - USA

The Ram Pickup recorded 105,350 sales versus the Silverado’s 126,992 units. The Gladiator slightly outsold the Chevy Colorado at 13,575 versus 13,256, respectively.

Sales Numbers - Ram/Jeep Trucks - Q1 2023 - USA

Finally, heavy duty pickup and, in the case of Chevy – medium duty truck sales – are included in all the numbers listed here. However, sales are broken out for the Chevy Low Cab Forward, for which Ram has no rival in the U.S.

Sales Numbers - GM Truck Sales - Q1 2023 - USA

As before, when we include the cross-shopped GMC trucks, which take sales from Chevy while Ram doesn’t experience that scenario, then we see that combined GM truck sales strengthens its edge over Mopar, with 213,487 cumulative deliveries, or nearly 95K more units moved. Furthermore, the full-size truck competition alone also puts The General at the top in Q1 2023.

Van Sales

With just one offering, Chevy moved just over a third as many vans as Mopar, or more specifically Ram, during Q1 2023. The Chevy Express is an old vehicle tracing its roots to the 1990s. The same goes for its corporate twin, the GMC Savana. Both models are the oldest models in their segment by a wide margin. In fact, the two vans are the oldest GM vehicles currently in production. While GM initially planned to discontinue the Express and Savana after the 2025 model year, the automaker now plans to redesign the Chevy Express for the 2027 model year with the internal combusion powertrain.

Sales Numbers - Chevy Van Sales - Q1 2023 - USA

Chevy Express sales totaled just 8,595 units, down three percent, while Ram moved a combined 23,372 vans with a healthy jump of 112 percent.

Sales Numbers - Ram Van Sales - Q1 2023 - USA

Note that Ram offers the ProMaster City compact van as well as the ProMaster full-size van in passenger and cargo forms. Chevy has no rival for the former since the discontinuation of the Chevy City Express, while the Express is sold as a passenger, cargo, and cutaway model.

Sales Numbers - GM Van Sales - Q1 2023 - USA

Including GMC van sales for reasons listed in the above sections gives GM a combined 13,391 deliveries between the Express and Savana, nearly 10K less than Ram.

EV Sales

Focusing solely on electric vehicles, only Chevy currently offers all-electric models, though Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram parent, Stellantis, has plans for several EV models in the future, as does the Bow Tie.

During Q1 2023, sales of the Chevy Bolt family continued to rebound, moving 19,700 units combined. That’s significantly up from extremely low volume a year ago as a result of the battery recall, associated stop-sale, and production stoppage stemming from some vehicles catching on fire.

Sales Numbers - Chevy EV Sales - Q1 2023 - USA

Overall, Chevy outsold Mopar by 32,342 units during the first quarter of 2023. Combined, all the GM marques (Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC) recorded in 603,208 deliveries compared to 365,799 combined deliveries of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram during the same time period. In fact, that’s just 60 percent of The General’s volume.

The GM Authority Take

Chevy outsold the four Mopar brands during Q1 2023 even even though the two automakers sell about the same amount of models. Adding in cross-shopped GMC models changes the story even more in GM’s favor overall, and is most fitting in some segments due to the reasons noted above.

Both automakers have offered, debuted, or teased new, refreshed, and next-generation models for both their ICE and EV offerings. All-electric models are poised to disrupt the automotive landscape the most, especially as both manufacturers eventually transition to EV-only portfolios over the next several years. As that time arrives, GM Authority will be here to report on how sales subsequently play out.

About The Numbers

• All percent change figures compared to Chevy sales for Q2 2021 and Stellantis / Mopar (Dodge, Ram, Jeep, and Chrysler) sales for Q1 2022, unless noted otherwise
• In the United States, there were 75 selling days for Q1 2023 and 75 selling days for Q1 2022
• GM Q1 2023 sales reports:
  • GM Q1 2023 sales U.S.A.
    • Chevrolet sales Q1 2023 U.S.A.
    • Cadillac sales Q1 2023 U.S.A.
    • Buick sales Q1 2023 U.S.A.
    • GMC sales Q1 2023 U.S.A.
  • GM Canada sales Q1 2023
  • GM Mexico sales Q1 2023
    • GM Mexico sales January 2023
    • GM Mexico sales February 2023
    • GM Mexico sales March 2023
  • GM China sales Q1 2023
  • GM Brazil sales Q1 2023
    • Chevrolet Brazil January 2023 sales
    • Chevrolet Brazil February 2023 sales
    • Chevrolet Brazil March 2023 sales
  • GM Argentina sales Q1 2023
    • Chevrolet Argentina January 2023 sales
    • Chevrolet Argentina February 2023 sales
    • Chevrolet Argentina March 2023 sales
  • GM Chile sales Q1 2023
    • Chevrolet Chile January 2023 sales
    • Chevrolet Chile February 2023 sales
    • Chevrolet Chile March 2023 sales
  • GM Colombia sales Q1 2023
    • Chevrolet Colombia January 2023 sales
    • Chevrolet Colombia February 2023 sales
    • Chevrolet Colombia March 2023 sales
  • GM South Korea sales Q1 2023
    • GM South Korea January 2023 sales
      • Chevrolet South Korea January 2023 sales
      • Cadillac South Korea January 2023 sales
    • GM South Korea February 2023 sales
      • Chevrolet South Korea February 2023 sales
      • GMC South Korea February 2023 sales
      • Cadillac South Korea February 2023 sales
    • GM South Korea March 2023 sales
      • Chevrolet South Korea March 2023 sales
      • Cadillac South Korea March 2023 sales