QOTD: Ram Beats Chevrolet For The First Time Since 1999, GM Gets Pouty

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

For the first time since 1999, Ram trucks outsold Chevrolet in a monthly sales period, with Ram edging out the bowtie brand by just 285 trucks.

With 42,532 trucks sold in March, Ram just edged out Chevy’s 42,247 trucks, but lagged Ford, which moved just under 71,000 F-Series trucks.

GM spokesman Jim Cain issued a rather acid-tongued statement to Automotive News, telling the trade paper

“The 1980s called. They want their marketing strategy back…It’s really easy to deeply discount your truck, mine the subprime market and offer cheap lease deals to buy market share.”

Although I am a dubious authority figure when it comes to withholding sharply worded responses, I can’t help but wince when I see this quote by Cain, as well as his other comments about the Chevrolet Colorado rendering other trucks “obsolete”. Clearly, things aren’t going well over in GM’s truck department, but reacting with a response best left for a “deep background” conversation at a Detroit-area watering hole only serves to further telegraph that fact.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

More by Derek Kreindler

Comments
Join the conversation
7 of 125 comments
  • NN NN on Apr 02, 2014

    everyone is pi$$ing on GM over the truck launch, and they did play it conservatively, however, their long-term owners may be rewarded with what they've done. Ford's Ecoboost motors and fancy transmissions have durability problems & low real world mpg figures; practically everything Chrysler has ever made also suffers from the same (diesel may be an exception, however FWIW this new diesel is an Italian diesel, not a Cummings, so durability may be closer to older Cherokee diesel than Heavy Duty RAM). GM's trucks are getting real world 17mpg in mixed driving over at Edmunds' long term test fleet, which is 30% better than the 2007 Chevy they had. That's better than my midsize SUV. And by sticking with small blocks and 6-speeds rather than going for the latest and greatest may pay dividends in durability over time. If buying today, I'd likely choose a GM (or diesel Ram, if there wasn't a massive markup like there will be). I'd like to see what the aluminum F-150 is like, although Ecoboost durability concerns would worry me.

    • Bball40dtw Bball40dtw on Apr 02, 2014

      There is not a fancy transmission in the F150. The market has spoken on the Ecoboost V6 in the F150 as well. GM will be going to a 10 speed in a couple years on their trucks, and it will be one that Ford is doing most of the development for. The trade off is that GM is doing more of the development on the 9 speed FWD/AWD transmission.

  • Philadlj Philadlj on Apr 02, 2014

    More and more the Silverado seems like a case akin to a chef not actually tasting what they were cooking when they were cooking it, to say nothing of tasting what others had made beforehand...even though the meal in question is for a state dinner that could NOT, under any circumstances, be effed up. As for the barb about subprime mining...uhh...GM Financial, Mr. Cain? Pot, meet kettle.

  • Superdessucke Superdessucke on Apr 02, 2014

    Am I the only one a little insulted at the backhanded dig on the subprime market? Poor people need trucks too you know, sheesh!

  • Doug-g Doug-g on Apr 02, 2014

    Ford is the "Senior Statesman" in this battle and sits on the sideline, getting up occasionally to laugh all the way to the bank. When you get to Dodge vs Chevy this is pretty much what it boils down to: http://youtu.be/VciQjhgB66k We can argue gas vs diesel, etc all day long, but this was one of the most lurid, brutal and humiliating automotive related videos I have seen and I suspect it made some impact in this adolescent competition. I wonder if Jim Cain is mimicking the Chevy driver here and pathetically yelling, "do it again"!

Next