January 2015 Full-Size Pickup Truck Sales Up 17% – F-Series Outsells GM Twins
January 2015 was the first month since July of last year in which the Ford F-Series outsold GM’s full-size twins, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra.
Between August and December, F-Series sales slid 3%, not unpredictably. As Ford became more firmly entrenched in the F-150 transition phase, sales perked up in January 2015. Rising just as quickly as the fast-growing overall full-size truck market, F-Series sales increased to the highest level since January 2004. (F-Series volume in January 2015 was nearly double what it was in January 2010.)
• Ford outsells GM twins for the first time since July
• GM increases market share, Ram loses market share
• Full-size trucks lose a small amount of market share to small/midsize trucks
Though outsold by the F-Series, it certainly wasn’t a bad month for the big GM trucks. Their market share improved by more than a full percentage point as the Silverado posted a 25% improvement to 36,106 units.
Ram’s truck lineup recorded a 14% year-over-year improvement during a month in which the brand’s commercial vans – including the new ProMaster City – accounted for 9% of all Ram sales, up from 4% a year ago.
TruckJanuary 2015January 2014% Change Ford F-Series54,37046,53616.8%Chevrolet Silverado36,10628,92624.8%Ram P/U28,61825,07114.1%GMC Sierra12,62111,11813.5%Toyota Tundra8,1977,8903.9%Nissan Titan774887-12.7%—— ——Total140,686120,42816.8%One in five FCA/Chrysler Group sales in the U.S. in January were Ram P/U-derived. Ford relied on the F-Series for 31% of total FoMoCo sales. General Motors used the Silverado and Sierra to produce 24% of the company’s January U.S. volume.
At Toyota and Nissan, of course, it’s a different story. During a month in which Nissan outsold Honda, the not-yet-replaced Titan had nothing to do with the brand’s big 16% increase.
TruckJanuary2015ShareJanuary2014ShareFord F-Series38.6%38.6%Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra34.6%33.3%Ram P/U20.3%20.8%Toyota Tundra5.8%6.6%Nissan Titan0.6%0.7%———Full-Size Share Of Total Pickup Truck Market84.6%88.3%Full-Size Pickup Share Of Total Industry12.2%11.9%Less than 1% of Nissan brand sales were Titans. Nissan has big plans for the new truck, but whether they can sell more than 100,000 units per year depends as much on the will of Nissan’s rival manufacturers as it does on Nissan’s own intentions. The Tundra’s 4% improvement, meanwhile, paled in comparison with the Toyota brand’s 14% increase. The Tundra brought in 5% of all Toyota/Lexus/Scion buyers in January 2015.
January is traditionally the lowest-volume auto sales month on the calendar. Truck sales this past month were particularly strong, however, with greater overall sales activity not just than January 2014, but more volume than in February of last year, as well. In 2014, total February truck volume was up 19% compared with the prior month.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.
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I'm more interested in the bullet points: * Ford outsells GM twins for the first time since July -- That's only logical as Ford's transition efforts reduced available stocks while their customers were also waiting for the new model to come out. This is hardly a surprise. * GM increases market share, Ram loses market share -- You might note that GM's increases are larger than Ram's losses in market share. However, this doesn't appear to be predicated on full-size shares alone as... * Full-size trucks lose a small amount of market share to small/midsize trucks -- This seems to be the real telling factor. Though the change seems slight, the one totally new truck in the so-called mid-sized segment is obviously having an effect, as are improvements in the other two contenders in this scale. The fact that it's a 4% upshift against the full-size market may be a telling point that the full-sized trucks have simply grown too large. However, it's too early to offer any kind of realistic projection, especially since we don't know how the OEMs will respond to the Colorado's introduction.
Tim, "...whether they can sell more than 100,000 units per month..." I'm sure Nissan would be extra-plus thrilled if that were to happen, it would give them a 70% share of the market. And might bankrupt Ford in the process. Could even stop the rotation of the Earth! I suspect you meant to say "100,000 units per year"?