Industry News: Pickup Trucks Are the Bright Spot In Second Quarter Sales

[William Maley]

Automakers for the most part were hurting in sales during the second quarter. The COVID-19 pandemic and the economy coming to a screeching halt for a brief time caused new car sales to drop by a third according to Automotive News. But there is a slim silver lining to this, full-size pickups have moved into being the best-selling segment of vehicles.

According to data from Automotive News, one out of four vehicles sold between April and June was a pickup truck. This helped put them ahead of compact crossovers, which have held the top spot for some time. The reason is that trucks didn't take as big of a hit due to 0 percent financing offers from automakers to help bring in buyers. A large number of dealers said they sold the majority of trucks sitting on their lots.

Mark LaNeve, Ford's vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service provides another reason why trucks didn't fall off a cliff. Speaking to AN, he said that people need trucks for work and "affluent consumers who often buy such vehicles have been less affected by the pandemic."

Trucks still took quite the hit in the quarter,

• Chevrolet Silverado: Down 14%
• Ford F-Series: Down 23%
• GMC Sierra: Down 4%
• Ram: Down 35%

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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[David]

Wonder why Ram took such a hit compared to the rest? 🤔

[Robert Hall]

3 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Wonder why Ram took such a hit compared to the rest? 🤔

No idea, but my local CRJD dealer had a huge number of Rams on the lot.   95 2020 Rams according to their website. And 11 new 2019s.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Robert Hall

[David]

Just now, Robert Hall said:

No idea, but my local CRJD dealer had a huge number of Rams on the lot.  

Same here the Ram / Jeep dealer is low on Jeeps, but the Ram lot is overflowing with trucks. I wonder is it the incentives, the configuration, or is it that GM and Ford appeal to a higher income group which has been less affected by the Pandemic than lower income.

Interesting to understand this.

[Robert Hall]

4 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Same here the Ram / Jeep dealer is low on Jeeps, but the Ram lot is overflowing with trucks. I wonder is it the incentives, the configuration, or is it that GM and Ford appeal to a higher income group which has been less affected by the Pandemic than lower income.

Interesting to understand this.

My local's Jeep mix was odd...low on GCs and Wranglers...loads of Compasses and Cherokees.  2 Gladiators--both white (bleh).  The GC mix was odd--4 dark red, one gray, 7 white (bleh). 

Edited July 6, 2020 by Robert Hall

[David]

9 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

My local's Jeep mix was odd...low on GCs and Wranglers...loads of Compasses and Cherokees.  2 Gladiators--both white (bleh).  The GC mix was odd--4 dark red, one gray, 7 white (bleh). 

That is weird, seems to be inline with here, while the colors are all in the white, Silver and Black area, there is a lack of any other compelling colors. Lower end Jeeps are plentiful too, I think this does go with discretionary income available to spend. Right now lower income jobs have people holding off on spending I think.

[daves87rs]

The only thing we had around here were cars....dealers where low on almost everything.....