Sales Oracles Think July Will Be Hot

Tundra sales have always been bad as have the sales of the lame, craptastic Ridgeline.

mikey, I was never a fan of Chrysler products. Got my start on them rebuilding my dad's Mopar (Plymouth and Dodge) dragsters and 426 Hemis way back in the 60's when I was a kid. I owned a number of Jeep products, including the worst from AMC, but this new Grand Cherokee really cuts the cake. My wife is tickled pink with hers. It's luxurious and rides well. Dare I say it? It is as good as, if not better than, her 2008 Highlander. But I do remind her of the Moose lurking out there almost daily. A few weeks ago, before the TV Moose test was released, she told me that she went around a curve where US70 accesses the I-25 South and she got a wake up call when her GC became unstable. I reminded her the speed limit in that curve was 35 not 45. I'm sure she white-knuckled it that time. I'm equally sure she will now slow down for curves. I don't know what happened but I surmise that the Stabilitrac started activating the four calipers at the corners, and it must have felt really weird. I tried to duplicate it on US54 by rapidly switching lanes at 40mph with the stability control turned off, and that buggy felt as loose as a long-necked goose. All that rocking and rolling would make me seasick. Once you turn on the stability control everything is civilized again. So, yeah, Fiat needs to tweak the stability control to keep the thing from tipping.

Toyota's problem trying to play the truck game is the same as Nissan's - they both released competent products, and then let them rot on the vine. The Tundra hasn't had a significant update since its '07 release, and the Titan hasn't had a significant update since it was introduced in '04. For 2011 - F-Series: 584,917 Combined Silverado/Sierra: 564,300 Dodge Ram: 244,763 Toyota Tundra: 82,908 Nissan Titan: 21,994 Toyota sold nearly 200,000 Tundras in '07. Corolla buyers apparently don't seem to care that the vehicle is extremely outdated, truck buyers, not so much.

@NulloModo Nullo, you're probably right in your premise and assumption, but maybe Toyota and Nissan wanted to have a truck available for those individuals who chose not to buy a domestic. It happens. I know several people, some even working men who use their trucks for their work, who have chosen to buy a Tundra. Others bought a Titan, mostly older guys who wanted something unique. One of my neighbors traded TWO RAM trucks in on a 2010 Tundra. I sold both my '88 Silverado and 2006 F150 after buying my 2011 Tundra. Is it outdated when compared to the current F150? Yeah, maybe. But I wouldn't trade if off unless there was something better out there. I'm not into EcoBoost or V6s, so that's no sale there. But when I trade off my 2011 Tundra in 2016, I'll look around at what's out there. And if there is something better than my current Tundra, I'll buy it, regardless of brand or who makes it.

@NulloModo HDC - I agree some people want a "foreign" truck, I was just struck by 1.3 million "US" trucks and only 100,000 "Japanese" trucks. 13:1 is some ratio. I am surprised Toyota hasn`t worked harder on the Tundra if it is true not much has changed since 2007 (though the Silverado hasn`t changed much either has it in that time). I recall Toyota setting the goal to sell, routinely, 200,000 Tundra's and fully utilize their new Texas facility. Looks like they failed in that. Should someone write an article complaining about them missing their sales targets repeatedly?

@NulloModo Large trucks yes... Midsize is ruled by Toyota Tacoma.

@NulloModo Mike978, there are probably several reasons why Tundras don't sell well except to their own fan boys. IMO, the biggest reason is that any Tundra is so damn expensive! I paid over $5K more for my 2011 5.7 than I could get a Silverado or an F150 for, similarly equipped, at that time. And my Tundra has hardly anything on it except for the SR5 package. But when it comes to the compact trucks, it is like spw stated, the Tacoma is the undisputed champion of the sales world in North America. And Toyota hasn't done much to either of their trucks to upgrade them or make them slicker. My guess would be that their philosophy is that they don't mess with a good thing as long as people keep on buying them. There are no threats, real or perceived, for the Tacoma. And the people who buy Tundra know what they want, and are willing to pay extra for the privilege of buying one. What other reasons can motivate a buyer when it comes to buying a Toyota truck? Maybe Toyota just wants to take a portion of the sales that would normally have gone to Ford, GM or Dodge. No matter how few sold, each Tundra or Titan sale is one less for the domestics. And as long as the current owners of those Tundras and Titans are happy campers, it is unlikely that they will leave the fold and migrate back to the domestic brands. I'm certainly not going back unless a domestic manufacturer can improve on what I own now. When it comes time to trade in 2016, I'll check them all out. But I won't buy an aluminum-bodied F150, for instance. I prefer steel and I don't care about the cost of gasoline or mpg. To me gasoline is a bargain at any price because it beats walking.

"I paid over $5K more for my 2011 5.7 than I could get a Silverado or an F150 for, similarly equipped, at that time. And my Tundra has hardly anything on it except for the SR5 package." You just described every Toyota buyer out there.