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By Bloomberg

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said U.S. sales rose 4 percent last month as deliveries of its Chrysler 200 sedan soared, complementing demand for its Jeep SUVs and Ram pickups, giving the automaker its best May in a decade.

The company’s North American unit delivered 202,227 vehicles last month, beating the average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg, for a 2.6 percent gain. Fiat Chrysler led off automakers Tuesday in reporting May results. Chrysler brand sales jumped 32 percent to 29,802 while Jeep deliveries expanded 13 percent to 79,652.

“Our Jeep brand continues to set records with its best monthly sales ever in May,” Reid Bigland, Fiat Chrysler’s head of U.S. sales, said in a statement. May was the first time Fiat Chrysler topped 200,000 in monthly sales since March 2007.

Fiat Chrysler has now increased sales for 62 months, dating back to the 2009 exit from bankruptcy of the automaker formerly known as Chrysler. Even with the streak, Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne is urging the industry to consolidate, arguing that profitability even in peak years doesn’t generate enough returns to support investment costs.

FCA US said Ram pickup sales climbed 7.6 percent to 39,952. Jeep deliveries were led by the Wrangler and Cherokee.

Automakers are expected to report a 1.1 percent decline in deliveries of cars and light trucks in May to about 1.59 million, the average estimate from 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. There were 26 selling days last month, one fewer than in May 2014. Adjusted for seasonal trends, the annualized pace probably rose to 17.3 million, the fastest since August.

FCA forecast a 17.9 million rate, including medium and heavy trucks, which usually account for at least 200,000 yearly sales.

Declines Projected

Aside from Fiat Chrysler and General Motors Co., every major automaker was projected to show a decline, according to the Bloomberg survey of analysts. GM deliveries may have risen 0.1 percent and Ford Motor Co.’s may have declined 3.1 percent, based on the estimates. Volkswagen AG, which has been relying on leasing to outlast a dearth of new products that is slated to end by 2017, is expected to say monthly sales fell 0.9 percent for its VW and Audi brands.

The $89 a month it takes to lease a Jetta at some U.S. dealerships is about as low as the price of using an iPhone on some mobile-phone plans. It’s also a sign of how Volkswagen is grasping to turn around its fortunes in the U.S.

The bargain deal -- available after a down payment of about $2,500 on the $17,325 Jetta -- runs over a three-year term. Other recent offers ranged from as low as $39 a month in San Jose, California, to $99 in Boston. VW’s reliance on leasing is designed to lock in repeat customers for 2017, when the German automaker can show them an improved product line. VW, with an aging lineup that lacks a mid-size SUV, seeks to more than double U.S. sales to meet a 800,000-vehicle goal by 2018.

Ill-Fitting Market

Subsidized leases from Volkswagen, sometimes sweetened by the dealer, illuminate the U.S. as a weak spot for the world’s second-biggest automaker. VW’s American sales have dropped for two straight years, even with industrywide growth now in its sixth year. In recent months, leases accounted for as many as 45 percent of the company’s deliveries -- more than Porsche and about double the rate of most mainstream brands.

“This market isn’t particularly in VW’s favor,” Jack Nerad, an analyst at KBB.com, said in an interview. “They sell mostly small, fuel-efficient kind of stuff, and gas prices have not favored that. A lot of their deals are subsidized. That’s the way they put cars on sale.”

The Wolfsburg, Germany-based company needs to get the U.S. market right to reach its goal of overtaking Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s biggest automaker by 2018. Its U.S. deliveries fell 10 percent to 366,970 vehicles last year and were down 7.5 percent through April, even with a bump that month from the entry-level Jetta, one of the oldest models in VW’s lineup.