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The whole truck category continues to stumble through this terrible year. Year to date, the Tundra (-45%) is the big loser among the big trucks. Ford can claim the big PU title, but as usual, the Chevy/GMC duo combined outsells the F-Series. So who takes the crown? The Dakota is still in free-fall, while the ancient Ranger has the smallest YTD drop. The Transit Connect has connected quite well, and is the third best seller currently among the vans. Details follow:
| Ranking by YTD Sales | Nov. 09 sales | % change | YTD sales | % change |
| Big Pickups | ||||
| Ford F-series | 30494 | -20% | 365416 | -23% |
| Silverado/Avalanche | 23474 | -26% | 297555 | -36% |
| Ram PU | 9787 | -37% | 165254 | -28% |
| GMC Sierra | 8371 | -20% | 99698 | -36% |
| Toyota Tundra | 6379 | 5% | 70515 | -45% |
| Nissan Titan | 1501 | 47% | 16894 | -7% |
| Smaller Pickups | ||||
| Toyota Tacoma | 7633 | -4% | 102327 | -24% |
| Ford Ranger | 3271 | -1% | 51097 | -18% |
| Chevy Colorado | 1316 | -47% | 30614 | -39% |
| Nissan Frontier | 2007 | 71% | 25427 | -42% |
| Honda Ridgeline | 1465 | -14% | 14943 | -53% |
| Dodge Dakota | 663 | -62% | 10072 | -59% |
| GMC Canyon | 452 | -28% | 9481 | -30% |
| Vans | ||||
| Ford Econoline | 4705 | -32% | 77179 | -34% |
| Chevy Express | 3489 | -56% | 49140 | -39% |
| GMC Savanna | 650 | -20% | 11118 | -47% |
| Ford Transit Connect | 1165 | 6842 | ||
| Sprinter | 959 | -23% | 6808 | -49% |
27 Comments on “November Sales Snapshot: Pickups and Commercial Vans...”
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The Transit Connect slots right where the old Astro/Safari did.
No real surprises here, other than the Canyon coming in at last among compact and mid-size pickups. With the 2009 redesign, I must say that I am shocked the Ram is faring so poorly.
It will also be interesting to see if the Sprinter sees a boost in sales when it is reborn as a Mercedes-Benz braded product in our market.
Ahh, so they DO sell the new Silverado in a regular cab. That’s literally the first one I’ve seen (out of many hundreds).
I see a few around, usually with logos on the door.
Ford, Gm dominate full size pick ups. Tundra can’t compete in this arena. Titan up 47% with 1500 units sold? Nissan please leave this segment now.
They don’t have to leave, they need to sell a regular cab pickup. Sales would triple
IMO the 25% import tax on pickup trucks doesn’t get *nearly* enough press.
Are any trucks imported?
Some of the RAM’s are made in mexico. The Transit Connect is made in turkey – apparently they send them over with rear seats & windows to aviod the tax then remove these items once arrived
I’m pretty sure that Mexico doesn’t count with the 25% Tax
Gadzooks! IIRC, Ford sold about 900k F-series in a calendar year not that long ago? I knew things were bad, but that is a massive decline.
Just as a comment, when GM switched the big vans to the “cats-eye” front end (like the first Avalanche) it become one of the most hideous things on the road.
The Tundra is a good looking truck, and it appears to have the power, not sure why it isn’t doing better.
I think part of the Tundra’s problem is the intense loyalty existing pickup truck buyer seem to have to their brand of choice. GM and Ford didn’t screw up their trucks nearly as much as they did their cars from the 1970s through the 1990s, so there is less opportunity to make conquest sales.
Today’s pickup truck buyers are not the fashion/fad buyers, it is people who really need a truck and are replacement buyers. This is a very tough market to crack, and the way it has been contracting there really is no good reason for newbies to bother.
It turns out Honda was smart doing the trucklet thing with the Ridgeline. The got some incremental business without the cost of trying to take Detroit on head-first.
The thing with toyota is that every truck they sell is one that GM/Ford doesn’t. In the past the rest of thier business allowed them to take a loss on trucks as they built it up (kind of like walmart and pharmacies), there stratagy was just to bleed thier competition. I do not know if that is the case anymore.
I think the problem with the Tundra is that Toyota still doesn’t understand the American truck market. The earlier Tundra and T100 were criticized for being too small to be a full size truck, and it’s like Toyota said “Fine. You want big, we’ll give you big.” The new Tundra can’t be criticized for being too small, but now its so big that it’s about as practical and easy to use as a Hummer.
I think Nissan came a lot closer to the bulls eye with the Titan, but they let the truck get stale and haven’t promoted it enough.
@whynotaztec
Some of the things I have heard about the Tundra…
The steering wheel doesn’t give you a good view of the gauges. The wheel is too small to look through. The tailgate has when putting too much weight on it. The frame is far too weak and twist too easily.
I also think that truck buyers didn’t really buy into the commercials that Toyota was producing with the trucks performing stunts. Finally, Toyota has had inferior engine lineup. The base V6, was more powerful than some competitors, but lacking in fuel economy. The base V8 (4.7L) was lacking in fuel economy and power. The top V8, is not as high as competitor in power, and not that much better in fuel economy.
This is also probably the hardest market for Toyota to crack, they are not selling anywhere near what the goals were for the Tundra initially. In fact, they converted one plant to build crossovers and all production of the Tundra is now in San Antonio.
Ford has the second best selling compact truck in the Ranger and they want to kill it because…?
It’s by far the least updated nameplate on the list; Ford must make some serious coin on that little truck. Makes me wonder what sales would be if it was given a total makeover, complete with a new(ish) platform.
@ Monty (Burns)
Australia has just received a new one – is that the US model too? Is it the same as the Mazda BT-50? We get a new 3L I4 turbo diesel. It won’t be able to unseat the Hilux/Tacoma in Australia however.
Do people still contend that full-size PUs are being bought for the trades? They’re in some of the most severely effected unemployed groups. Those guys (construction, plumbing, electrical) are sitting on their arses just now with an already underwater previous boom/bubble pickup lease they can’t afford.
Who the heck is buying these things? Is dwford out there somewhere, can you enlighten us/me?
As far as lamenting that Nissan would triple their (anemic) sales with a regular cab? No way. And Honda’s Ridgeline? A certified sales failure.
Yeah, that jumped out at me, too. All of the reviewers loved that truck but it’s been a total failure on the sales charts.
I’m pretty sure that Mexico doesn’t count with the 25% Tax
Tell us why “No way” on Titan sales increasing if they had a regular cab.
Nissan $27120
Chevrolet $21845
Dodge $21510
Toyota $24105
Ford $22355
Price is why the Titan doesn’t sell, work truck buyers won’t pay that much for it. Work truck buyers want inexpensive full size trucks.
with black bumpers, vinyl seats, regular cabs
doesn’t even need the V8
Nissan should have been selling a plain Titan all along, regular cab, 4.0L V6
Interesting that Toyota and Nissan’s mid-sized entries are outselling their big trucks. Entering the full-sized class was a very expensive mistake for both of them.
I don’t think it’s so much a mistake as it is a commentary on a) how hard it is to crack the market and b) how much the domestics have given up on the compact truck market.
Toyota is in this for the long haul. The Taco is just a beachhead, and it gives them something to fall back to, if needed. The Tundra had the misfortune of coming out just as the recession hit, true, but it’s also worth noting that Toyota came through the recession with considerably better resources, especially since they hadn’t mortgaged their R&D as GM, or been in total chaos (like Chrysler).
The unique thing about the Ranger is that it is truly the only “compact” PU still available. Ford delayed closing it’s St. Paul, MN plant where the Ranger is made. Seems fuel prices and the economy has helped Ranger sales for the time being.
Remember that Toyota tried to crack the fullsive PU market back in ’93 with the awful T100. Only company I’ve ever seen that offers a bigger truck over their compact with a higher tow rating(5K vs 3.5K)but then offers you the same two motors available in the compact. Geez I wonder why they didn’t sell. The first generation Tundra was nothing more than a re-badged T100 with a V8. Within the last few years they’ve finally offered a true fullsize truck to compete with the domestics.
Still, the few people who bought the T100 and early Tundras are now lifetime Toyota owners. I haven’t met an owner of a T-100 yet who didn’t think it was the best truck they’ve ever owned.
Even when I owned a Toyota truck I held my head in shame over the T100. It even looked wimpy. Thinking that truck could compete with the full size domestics offering nothing bigger than the 3.0 liter V6 was absolute lunacy. That’s what my compact Toy had in it and trust me it didn’t have the torque/HP to tow 5K comfortably. That was my biggest complaint with mine that even with the 3.0/5 sp, 3:73 rear end it was a real slug even with 3K behind it. Toyota really dropped the ball on that one.
Interesting about the T100 is they never sold very well but supposedly got snatched up pretty quickly on the used market. Go figure.