Chrysler sales gain, but falls to No. 4

Chrysler December sales show unexpected gain, but it's not enough to stop Toyota from passing DaimlerChrysler in full-year U.S. sales.

January 3 2007: 12:01 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Chrysler Group reported an unexpected rise in sales in December, although it wasn't enough to stop its parent company from falling to fourth place in full-year U.S. sales for the first time.

Chrysler reported its U.S. sales gained 1 percent to 190,415 vehicles in the month, up 1 percent from year-earlier sales. Auto sales tracker Edmunds.com had been looking for a 6.7 percent decline in sales for the period.

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But Mercedes-Benz, the luxury brand which like Chrysler is owned by DaimlerChrysler (Charts), reported a 10 percent drop in sales, leaving the overall company with a 1 percent drop in U.S. sales in December from a year earlier.

Even with better than expected November results, Chrysler ended the year with U.S. sales of 2.1 million, off 7 percent from 2005, while Mercedes gained 11 percent for the year. That left DaimlerChrysler's sales here down 5 percent to 2.4 million vehicles.

The result almost certainly will drop DaimlerChrysler into fourth place in U.S. sales for a full year for the first time, behind General Motors (Charts), Ford Motor (Charts) and Toyota Motor (Charts), which is likely to move past DaimlerChrysler. Toyota's sales through November were already at 2.3 million, and Edmunds is forecasting its December sales gained 7 percent from the 203,279 it sold in December 2005.

GM and Ford also are likely to report lower 2006 sales later in the day Wednesday, along with Japanese automaker Nissan (Charts). Honda Motor (Charts) is likely to join Toyota in reporting improved sales, although Edmunds expects its December sales to be below year-earlier results.