Cain's Segments: Midsize Truck Sales In America In February 2015
General Motors has reported 28,218 sales of their new midsize trucks since the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon arrived late in September 2014. Sales of both trucks have increased every month since arriving at dealers. Colorado volume in February was 177% stronger than it was in November; Canyon sales shot up 194% during the same period.
Neither GM pickup is the top-selling non-full-size truck in America, however, nor can GM yet claim the title when their sales are combined. Since October, sales of the top-selling Toyota Tacoma have increased 10% to 64,093 units.
Nissan, meanwhile, has seen sales of its Frontier – the number two truck before the Colorado took over in January, – rise 13% to 30,934 units over the last five months. Frontier sales have improved in 20 consecutive months.
AutoFeb.2015Feb.2014%Change2 mos.20152 mos.2014%ChangeToyota Tacoma12,37210,94213.1%17,24915,8139.1%Chevrolet Colorado6,5631656,200%12,5051583,267%Nissan Frontier6,1065,7915.4%11,97410,72211.7%GMC Canyon2,513——4,7181471,700%Honda Ridgeline1361,143-88.1%3502,306-84.8%—— —————Total 27,69017,87754.9% 46,79628,85762.2%Despite the loss of most Honda Ridgeline sales, the segment’s February expansion was impressive. The five trucks combined for a 55% year-over-year improvement. Subtract the Ridgeline from the equation and the rate of improvement climbs to 65%. (The sketch below encapsulates what we know about the design of the upcoming second-gen Ridgeline.)
The Colorado and Canyon combined for 32.8% market share. That performance isn’t quite as impressive as the February achievement reported by their full-size siblings. The Silverado and Sierra owned 38.6% of the full-size truck segment in February and combined to outsell the segment-leading Ford F-Series.
As for the small/midsize truck category’s impact on the overall truck market, the five pickups earned 15% of all truck sales. That figure is smaller than the 15.4% share they acquired in January, but it’s far greater than the 11% earned by the Tacoma, Frontier, and Ridgeline a year ago.
North of the border, GM’s new trucks did in fact manage to outsell the segment-leading Toyota Tacoma in February. But while Canada’s pickup truck market is inordinately large – trucks accounted for 20.1% of all new vehicle sales in Canada last month; 14.7% in the U.S. – the smaller set of five trucks are far less consequential, forming only 6.4% of the overall pickup truck category.
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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Regarding size the colorado twins are pretty big as far as mid sizers go. They are within inches of the GMT 400 fullsize trucks and almost the same size as the first gen Tundra and quite a bit bigger than the last Dakotas. Current twins width 74.1" Previous twins 68" GMT 400 76.8 2nd gen Dakota 71.5 1st Tundra 75.2 Length wise an extended cab 6' bed colorado is about 8" shorter than a GMT 400 ext cab 6' bed (the crew cab is actually longer by about 5" ) Calling it small or narrow seems a bit unrealistic I will admit it looks a little narrow but not that narrow it also look massive parked next to a previous gen to tell the truth I think it's too close to fullsize I would just make the jump to a V6 fullsize my self whereas I felt the last truck made a case for itself with it's small size oh well apparently I'm in the minority.
I have a 2006 Tundra Access Cab, the last year of the "7/8ths" Tundra, and the dimensions compared with the extended cab Colorado/Canyon are very close. The Colorado/Canyon is less than an inch narrower and about six inches shorter. The Colorado/Canyon is about 400 pounds heavier but when comparing V6s the Colorado/Canyon blows my Tundra away in horsepower and torque, and with better highway economy. Oddly, the towing capacity for the Colorado/Canyon is 1500 pounds less (3500 lbs), which may matter when pulling a relatively small RV or other trailer. This is a good size truck with casual capability for suburban and recreational use...read a yard of mulch and no heavy towing. Otherwise these are both fine vehicles for what they are. I can only hope the Colorado/Canyon will be as reliable and boring as my Tundra (no repairs or extra maintenance at 63,000 miles).