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Full-size pickup truck sales improved by a modest 3.1% as the U.S. auto industry climbed 4.6% in April 2015.
As a whole, the pickup truck category increased its sales at a faster clip than the overall industry, rising 7.8% thanks to 46% gains from small/midsize pickups, vehicles which accounted for 15% of all pickup truck sales in April 2015, up from 11% at this time a year ago.
Even without an additional 9,442 sales from the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, General Motors was the biggest seller of pickup trucks in April 2015. The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra combined to outsell the Ford F-Series by 1,053 units – they trail the F-Series by 4,257 units year-to-date – after trailing the F-Series by 3,386 sales in April 2014.
|
Truck
|
April
2015
|
April
2014
|
%
Change
|
4 mos.
2015
|
4 mos.
2014
|
%
Change
|
|
Ford F-Series
|
62,827 | 63,387 | -0.9% | 240,139 | 236,745 | 1.4% |
|
Chevrolet Silverado
|
45,978 | 42,755 | 7.5% | 172,672 | 150,512 | 14.7% |
|
Ram P/U
|
37,921 | 36,674 | 3.4% | 139,432 | 133,580 | 4.4% |
|
GMC Sierra
|
18,082 | 17,246 | 4.8% | 63,255 | 59,459 | 6.4% |
|
Toyota Tundra
|
10,681 | 10,217 | 4.5% | 39,438 | 37,619 | 4.8% |
|
Nissan Titan
|
1,038 | 956 | 8.6% | 3,676 | 4,274 | -14.0% |
|
—
|
—
|
— | — | — | — | — |
|
Total
|
176,527 | 171,235 | 3.1% | 658,612 | 622,189 | 5.9% |
Last month marked the second time in three months the full-size GM twins have outsold the transitioning Ford. Year-over-year, F-Series volume slipped 0.9% in April 2015. The Silverado and Sierra were jointly up 6.8%.
General Motors’ sold 73,503 pickups in total in the fourth month of 2015; 271,650 in the first-third of 2015.
|
Truck
|
April
2015
Share
|
April
2014
Share
|
4 mos.
2015
Share
|
4 mos.
2014
Share
|
|
Ford F-Series
|
35.6% | 37.0% | 36.5% | 38.1% |
|
Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra
|
36.3% | 35.0% | 35.8% | 33.7% |
|
Ram P/U
|
21.5% | 21.4% | 21.2% | 21.5% |
|
Toyota Tundra
|
6.1% | 6.0% | 6.0% | 6.0% |
|
Nissan Titan
|
0.6% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.7% |
|
—
|
— | — | — | — |
|
Full-Size Share Of
Total Pickup Truck Market
|
85.1% | 89.0% | 85.0% | 88.9% |
|
Full-Size Pickup Share
Of Total Industry
|
12.1% | 12.3% | 12.2% | 12.1% |
Ram’s hiatus into declining territory was brief. March sales slid 2.2% compared with March 2014 following 59 consecutive months of year-over-year improvement. April volume was once again on the upswing, rising 3.4% to 37,921 units, an increase of 1,247 U.S. sales.
Toyota and Nissan, meanwhile, earned slightly less than 7% of the full-size truck market in April 2015. Both the Tundra and Titan reported improved volume. The same two brands, with their Tacoma and Frontier, generated seven out of every ten non-full-size pickup truck sales last 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. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar.
So is this because people are scared of the new Alu-minium F150s, or did GM dump way more incentives on their truck buyers? Or maybe a combination of both…
In my view, the aluminum bodied F-150 doesn’t provide much if any direct visible benefit to the consumer. The truck still rides and feels like the previous one, maybe just a tad faster than the outgoing model with the same engine. I’m not sure Ford will get good value out of that investment.
Payload is up, but no one cares that much. The new engines and transmission will provide more benefit. I like the new truck, but I care about some of the other upgrades more than the aluminium body.
I am interested in the aluminium Expedition and Navi though.
“I am interested in the aluminium Expedition and Navi though.”
Me too…we supply some “stuff” to Alcoa for the aluminum process on the F150’s…Keep the aluminum models coming!
Oh they will keep the aluminium models coming.
Bball
Oh I know.. We’re swamped, well, from here on out as far as I can tell.
If I correctly recall, the F150 going to aluminum only resulted in it matching the weight of the GM twins for comparable models.
Sort of. Ford has a lot of heavy options with no GM analogue – double sunroof, bed ladder, fold out bed steps, telescoping tow mirrors, power running boards, 36 gallon fuel tank, etc – and the $60,000 trucks in their press fleet have all of them.
Take it easier on those options and the Ford is a couple hundred pounds lighter, for what little that’s worth in a truck.
crtfour – the F150 has always been much heavier than the Chevy. In many respects Ford had no choice but to drop weight. Currently 60% of 2015 F150’s sold are high end models. Ford also tends to have a longer options list than Chevy. I bet that a Sierra Denali is heavier than a comparable Chevy if you can find an honest weight rating.
I know the previous gen F-150s got a bit heavier, but I understand they got much better crash and rollover protection too. Much safer than the jellybean F-150s anyway.
Danio3834
Looks like Big Al from Oz was right, people are suspicious of the Aluminium frame, sales have slowed. Also Midsize Pickup sales are expanding
Its only has an aluminumn body. Not frame.
Ummm, as usual, no. Retail F150 sales are up 10% with the new truck. Overall sales are down since they have just started to accept fleet orders and the second plant only came online 6 weeks ago and is not up to full speed.
The real question is what the July numbers look like. Ford and everyone with half a brain knew that the change over was going to cost some short term volume until both plants are producing at full capacity.
@Scoutdude,
So, your comment doesn’t recognise the fact that between the two plants they sold less than 25k new aluminium F-150s in April. And yet they have over $4 000 in incentives in some instances.
Also, Ford has employed thousands more people to manufacture the new truck. This might be good for employment, but not so good for Ford.
Add this to the huge development costs of the F-150. The most expensive pickup ever put into production and I would hazard to guess even motor vehicle, Ford can’t afford to much in the form of incentives.
The competition has Ford beat on pricing.
The Ford doesn’t really offer much that it’s competitors can’t do. Ram even has significantly better FE from the Ram with a 29mpg highway pickup. Ram was voted the “plushest” pickup to drive.
GM with the Silverado and Sierra are out selling Ford. Then add GMs money it gains from the Silverado/Sierra platform in SUVs.
wait. so, what, this whole story is just so much nonsense when facts are introduced?
Seems like the writer should look into sales data a bit deeper before going for the click baiting.
unless the baiting is what the internet and TTAC has become.
I hate it when the devil is in the details and the crowd gets all riled up over a ghost.
$3750 is not more than $4000 in the US, never mind that you can’t stack those discounts to get to that $3750 level.
Yes Ford has more people on the line with the new truck currently and that certainly isn’t doing their profits any favors, but that will be short term.
The KC plant is not up to speed yet and Ford has planned a slow ramp up and is not targeting full production until some time in June.
Meanwhile the ATP is up significantly and Ford is in good shape. They admitted from the get go that profits will take a slight hit for the 1st half of the year but they should return to normal or increase in the second half.
There is no doubt about it that it was a big gamble but every indication so far is that it will pay off big time.
Yes Chevy + GMC may end up with more sales in 2015 than the F150 which is nothing new they have done that on occasion in the past.
The real test as I said above is what things look like in July and beyond. The lots should be fully stocked and fleets deliveries will be up to normal levels as well by then.
“I’m not sure Ford will get good value out of that investment.”
The benefit will come from the ability to sell more units while complying with CAFE (to the extent that fleet averages still matter.)
Ford incentives are very minimal, for most models it is $750 max on a few models they are up to $2500. Meanwhile GM was laying them on thick, up to $8500.
It appears that the real transaction prices in my area (according to Truecar) of comparable F150 vs GMC models is only about $1600.00 apart.
The $8500.00 rebate on the GM’s is a very specific combo of options so isn’t quite as prevalent as it appears in adds.
On a side note…I didn’t know Nissan still made the Titan, it actually makes Cadillac sales numbers look good.
The rebates and incentives do vary by area.
Yes the biggest discounts are usually for a very specific combination but the ads touting $8500 off do get people in the door and some of those people do drive out with a vehicle even though it isn’t the one with the biggest discount.
true that Scoutdude…
GM & RAM are stacking $$$ sky high on pickup truck hoods right now.
I can’t believe some of the deal (general public, not employee or supplier pricing) I’m seeing in the metro Detroit area right now on all manner of vehicles, including pickup trucks.
If a person can’t get a near 40k MSRP Silverado/Sierra or RAM for around 26k right now, they’re a laydown.
I’m actually seeing RAM tradesman crew cab (MSRP $35k) for around $23k, and Silverado “All Star” trims (MSRP $38k) for 26k.
I’m seeing Chevy Cruze 1LT lease deals (MSRP 20k) for $111/month w/$0 down over 24 months.
I’m seeing Hemi Challengers for 28k.
can’t say I’m surprised. The latest Camry lease here is $56 a month with not all that much down. Accords are $89 a month, not sure how much down. The last BMW 320 I was advertised was something like $243 a month.
Move that sheetmetal!
$56/mo for even a base Camry? What’s not all that much down?
it’s 139/mo for 0 down..I don’t remember the $56 lease deal down payment, but I was shocked it was not as high as I expected. I don’t know the mileage limitations… I might have been hallucinating too, who knows.
28
since it appears you think I’m blowing smoke…here is the link
http://www.bochtoyota.com/new-car-specials.htm
$1900.00 down (really $2400.00 if you aren’t a recent college grad) $46.00 a month for 24 months on a new Camry.
I literally had a conversation one hour ago wherein I learned a friend of a friend leased a Chrysler 300S with a Sticker of 32k for $238/month $0 down sign & drive – no employee or supplier discount.
He saw the ad (Parkway Chrysler Dodge Jeep), went in, and drove out.
I’m telling everyone who doesn’t already see it that there is going to be a crash in used car prices that will rock the auction block & used car portion of car dealerships soon.
I did not think that, but for $139/mo it seems Camrys should be issued to everyone nationwide. That’s about as close to free for a decent car as your gonna get.
@DW
I hope so its a long time coming but I won’t be holding my breath.
Well the prices of used cars have been overinflated since Cash For Clunkers. That in turn is one of the reasons that cheap leases on new cars are available. It will eventually result in a correction of used car prices when all those short term leases start flooding the used car market.
I know residuals are high right now but those Toyota deals don’t pass the smell test. A 300 for $239 a month with 0 down is right there on Chrysler’s website but Toyota’s listed Massachusetts incentives aren’t even close to that low. 24 mo of Camry is $139/$2899 down, Corolla $129/2799, Rav4 $199/2899. When a dealer is telling you something is literally half price what they’re really telling you is that they’re lying scumbags.
Crazy residuals would make the three year car flip exceedingly attractive the past few years but Maryland’s tax structure is outright brutal to lessees. (I should say especially so to lessees, Maryland’s tax structure is brutal period.) You pay sales tax on the full valuation of the car being leased so that spectacular $239 Chrysler lease (which isn’t offered here anyway) would be hit with $2160 in sales tax – $60 a month, which is to say a 25% hike on the price of the car. Title and registration for three years would be another $400.
“Chrysler 300S with a Sticker of 32k for $238/month $0 down sign & drive – no employee or supplier discount.”
The deal is $239/mo $239 down, 10k miles a year and is only available to employees.
I’m not saying your friend of a friend didn’t get that deal, but it would have been difficult if he wasn’t an eligible employee.
@Scoutdude,
Where my family live in NJ I priced some new F-150s last week and Ford was offering $3 750 in incentives.
You were close only three grand short of the truth.
You’ll note I said for most models it is $750 max not all models. Plus your $3750 is still less than $4000 not more as you keep stating elsewhere. Either way it is much lower than the discounts that GM used to increase their sales. In addition GM’s fleet sales are up 40% making up a huge percentage of that gain which is due to the fact that F150 fleet sales have just begun.
Not sure where you’re getting the $8500.
Standard incentive at the moment:
Ford – $750
GM – $1500
Ram – $2000
They also have the usual extras for military, college grads, conquest, trade-in, etc. I suppose that you could be sitting pretty if you have a eligible trade-in, just finished college and joined the military.
From the Chevrolet website. http://www.chevrolet.com/current-deals.html?x-zipcode=98101 at least with a western WA zip code. Yes that is only on the crew cab LT All Star 4×4. And there is no mention of the college, military, conquest ect in the disclaimers.
That incentive applies to one specific trim package, so there probably aren’t many units available. Are they discontinuing that particular trim level?
Well I checked one local dealer and they are showing that about 1/4 of their 1500 crew cab 4x4s have the All Star package and thus qualify for that level of discount. In my area the crew cab 4×4 is the most common non work pickup. No idea how common it is at other dealers. There certainly aren’t discontinuing the LT trim but the All Star option package may be going away. There is some deceptiveness with that offer since they are factoring in the “$750 savings” of the All Star package vs the same items ala carte, which I doubt actually exists in this day and age.
Either way they are advertising it pretty heavily along with their 15% off of MSRP “on units in stock the longest” which seems to be all 2014s excluding Corvette.
It’s an odd incentive. There are a lot of trim packages on the Silverado, so it seems strange to single one out for a uniquely deep discount.
Well they may have more of them on lots than they think is appropriate, or they may not have that many of them so it makes for good fodder for bait and switch advertising.
Fact is that big number catches people’s attention and hopefully gets them in the door. Then when they get there they eventually find out that it doesn’t apply to the vehicle they want.
I was implying that I was thinking of it as a sort of bait-and-switch. The average incentive isn’t anywhere close to being that high.
@brettc,
It’s a combination of supply and customer apprehension of the new pickup.
From the supply side the Henry Ford Plant in Dearborn and the Kansas City plant are supposed to produce 700 000 pickup annually.
If Dearborn is any measure it will produce under 180 000 this year. If Kansas City can get up to the same rate of production a Dearborn that only half of what Ford estimated.
Ford has even increased manpower for these new pickups over the old pickup for the possible manufacture of 1/2 the pickups.
Ford is having problems as well with production. The Dearborn plant has been going for some time.
If Ford doesn’t improve it production rate many will defect to other brands compounding the apprehension of this new vehicle.
The way it is currently how many pickups will Ford sell this year.
Wrong as usual, Ford sold about 750,000 pickups last year and a good chunk of those are the Super Duty line which are produced in the Kentucky plant. So no the Dearborn and KC plants are not supposed to be able to produce 700,000 trucks per year.
@Scoutdude,
Instead of always being negative, why don’t you start to furnish some links?
I would check up on what you consider, think and how you come to your views.
You could be very, very wrong.
Learn to read. The world mightn’t be what you think.
I’m not the negative one, you are the one that keeps saying the negative things about the F150 that have no basis in reality. You want links. Well here is one for the plant that builds the Superduty line of trucks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Truck_Assembly
This gives a rough estimate of the previous ratio of F150 to Super Duty sales and the capacity of the Kentucky Truck plant. http://www.torquenews.com/106/ford-build-55000-more-f-series-super-duty-pickups-kentucky-annually
Which means they need to be able to produce somewhere in the neighborhood of 400,000 F 150s. KCAP is still ramping up and traditionally they have been a bigger producer of F 150s.
@Scoutdude,
I’ve never and I will never state the new F-150 is a bad pickup.
Show me where I’ve ever stated that.
I do have a different view than you concerning what’s going on at Ford with the F-150.
If you think my view that the F Series will be relegated into second position by GM, then I do think maybe your Ford Fan’ism is giving you a false picture.
I’ll state again, the F-150, as nice as it is, will not be the number one pickup in the US in the foreseeable future.
This seems to annoy you Ford fans.
Ford blew it.
I never said that you said the F150 was inherently bad, you just keep saying that it is going to be a failure, it will loose the #1 spot, Ford is loosing money on it ect, when the facts show otherwise. They can’t keep them on the lots, it is the fastest selling truck on the market currently. Ford was going to spend money to redesign it either way, yes they spent more to make it Aluminum which is a smart bet. The technology will be in the Super Duty and Expedition/Navigator soon and that will not cost them near as much to do since the ground work has already been done.
As I’ve pointed out in the past that you just don’t seem to get the upcoming CAFE standards are going to require significant changes across the board for automakers to meet them and give the buying public the types of vehicles they want. One of the things that will have to change is that vehicles will have to get lighter. Extensive use of Aluminum is the most cost effective way to do that. By doing it now they are doing it at before inflation prices like other automakers will have to face. They have also locked up supply contracts that will make it more difficult and expensive for competitors and they have several patents on their processes that can potentially be a source of income when other automakers that don’t have the money to invest in developing their own process license those patents.
As I’ve mentioned before at this point it is too soon to make a definitive call that Ford will loose the sales race this year. Sales in July are going to be the first indication of how things are going to play out in the sales race. Note through April the F series is still beating the Chevy by a mile and has a reasonable lead over Chevy + GMC. Chevy + GMC sales have topped Ford sales in the past and it will likely happen again in the future.
As a resident of the northeast, I’m thinking that a truck body that doesn’t rust out may qualify as a direct visible benefit to the consumer. Also, since it’s a truck, an increased payload and towing capacity may be viewed as a benefit.
The average buyer doesn’t know much about the corrosive properties of aluminum versus steel. Ford has to spend a lot of time and money educating them to get benefit from that.
It may even be a detriment to some buyers who previously owned alumnum bodied Fords which had many paint adhesion issues.
What customers do notice is the price increase.
Anodizing instead of painting the aluminum body would make it stand out.
I think it would be perfect for trucks since it is tougher than paint and no need for waxing/polishing.
Actually anodized Aluminum would be awesome for a Lightening variant of the current F150. That would make it stand out.
Body by All-Clad?
Quick, Ford! Special Commemorative 70th Anniversary of VJ-Day Model: The Enola Gay!
Oops… too political for the heartland, how ’bout Bockscar?
As awesome as I think that would look, anodizing would make bodywork impossible. Unfortunately, it’s as practical as a Delorean.
Actually, around here the first thing I hear about them in any conversation among working-class guys, tradespeople, etc. is, “well, at least they won’t rust out,” so you may be surprised…I don’t know where you are located or your frame of reference.
As a Ford fan and stockholder, I’d like to think they’re playing the long game with the F-150 strategy. But I can’t say that without some doubt — especially when demand has been filled, gas prices go up, there’s another slowdown or some combination of all three.
They certainly are playing the long game. At this point incentives are virtually non existent on th2 2015 and they are mainly producing the higher end models. So yeah they may be down a bit on total sales numbers but profits are way up.
Also reducing weight is something that will be required in the future, by doing so now they have “future proofed” the F150 and got ahead of the game. The technology that was developed will also make its way to the rest of the Ford products.
Not one of the commenters above seem to remember that the St Louis plant only started producing aluminum F150’s in mid March.
There’s an official shortage at the moment.
http://www.carscoops.com/2015/03/ford-starts-production-of-2015-f-150-in.html
@wmba,
St Louis, or Kansas City?
That was supposed to be full production. It was touted to start earlier.
The Kansas City plant has supplemented the Henry Ford plant in Detroit by an additional 10k per month. I do expect this to improve.
Ford also employed thousands more to produce the new aluminium F-150. So, what levels of productivity is coming from these workers when production has reduced, even in the Detroit plant that is running full steam. More cost reducing Ford’s competitiveness.
Like I mentioned, Ford produced around 25k new aluminium F-150s in April and yet there are moderate incentives already, with a higher workforce and lower production.
Good thing the ATP is up to $43,000.
@bomberpete,
The game will be very, very long from what I can see.
Al, You really need to get in and see the optometrist.
I hope Ford has the aluminum thing thought out well enough that when a fender gets a hit, the paint will not flake off the entire fender!
I know that’s overstating something that may have been true years ago, but aluminum still offers challenges as to corrosion and other factors. Overall, I think it’s a good thing to use aluminum, if for no other reason than to reduce the weight of pickup trucks, but eventually all vehicles.
GM touts their steel bodies as something special, inferring Ford’s aluminum bodies aren’t as tough, but that’s just good for ad copy. Soon, GM will follow.
Just like GM ads mention “Best in class v8 towing”, failing to mention that Ford’s v6 Ecoboost out guns them.
Just like GM did with their new truck two years ago, Ford is cashing in on one brand shoppers with an enormous price hike and minimal incentives. Give it 6 more months for inventories to catch up and the gotta have its to have theirs and you’ll see discounting and volume pick up again.
The other thing is that Ford has just opened up fleet ordering recently. Once source I’ve seen says that GM’s fleet sales are up 40% due in part to the lack of availability of the fleet F150.
Ford doesn’t expect to have full production capability and inventories until June. So July will be the month to watch.
Ford will still brag that it is the “best-selling pickup”. People who know trucks realize that Chevy and GMC are the same thing, but by the numbers, Ford outsold Chevy and Ford outsold GMC, so they can still declare themselves the winner.
eggsalad – GM has gone out of their way to differentiate Chevy and GMC.
Fords going to have to increase incentives, which will cut into even more profitability compared to the other two.
At this point dealer inventory is fairly normal, but the market isn’t willing to pay more for less weight, negligible MPG gains, more expensive maintence, and decreased reliability. Ford should have went the other way with the new truck, more emphasis on power and price.
The single V8 option they have is under stocked from what I’m seeing, or either they get sold immediately.
Dealer inventory isn’t even close to normal. Cars.com lists just 38K 2015 Fords nationwide. cf the GM twins, 156K. The Ram, 56K.
Yeah, I was going to say, dealer inventory is nothing. Like Scottdude said, Ford just started taking fleet orders again in the last few weeks. Dealers won’t have normal inventory until hopefully in the summer.
@bball40dtw,
Go to PUTC, you can have a look at inventory with the “Fastest and Slowest” selling pickups for April.
Also, look at the current incentives by Ford for the new aluminium F-150.
Over $4k in some instances. Either Ford is not managing the rollout of models well, or the demand for the pickup isn’t as large as some consider.
Where is there a normal $4k incentive from Ford on a ’15? You’d have to add college grad, personal coupon, and several other unlikely rebates. If you are justifying your argument with max possible rebates then you’re worse than me (the car salesman). Ford is holding pretty close to chest on rebates.
@Frantz,
In the NE.
I was on the Ford site last week and used my family’s zipcode in NJ and got a $3 750 incentive.
@ Frantz, Al has to keep making things up to continue to “prove” the 2015 F150 is a failure. Fact is the only way you can get to the $4000 rebate level is to stack rebates that you can’t qualify for all of them. $750 competitive and $500 lease loyalty are hard to combine. If you take the $500 lease loyalty then you forgo the $750 finance incentive. $500 for College grad, $500 for police association and $500 for military. Chances are that no one will qualify for all of those. I guess you will get a few that can qualify for 2 of them by being in the National Guard and belonging to a police association, or maybe a college grad and police association.
And of course he loves to spew that the Colorado is production limited but ignores the fact that the Kansas City plant just started production 6 weeks ago and is not up to capacity and they just started accepting fleet orders about 6 weeks ago as well.
There is one sliver of truth in what he says and that is that Ford thought the Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum trims would not sell as well as they have been so they have a few too many XLTs in stock in some areas and not enough of the higher trims that have high profit margins.
You are almost completely opposite from the truth. Ford just started taking fleet orders in mid March. The EcoBoost engines make up 63% of the current sales and 60% of the sales are the Lariat, Platinum and King Ranch. Ford’s strategy was to only produce the high margin trucks at the start and get top dollar for those who had to have it now. Now that the second plant is up and running they will adjust the model mix to have something on the lots for those that are looking for lower trim levels. Fact is that people just haven’t been buying the V8 in the Ford like they used to and so Ford is not producing as many of them any more. No one was more surprised than Ford when the Ecoboost was introduced the demand was around twice what Ford had predicted.
Ford has been giving the fleet business to GM so far. That is where a lot of the big gains are coming from for Chevy. Expect those fleet buyers that didn’t have a deadline to spend the money to continue to buy the F150 and give it a big boost in sales numbers as it becomes more available and as orders make their way to the hands of the buyers.
Ford sells more ecoboosts because the V8 options are slim pickings. The shortages must be elsewhere, the NC and VA dealers I’ve been around have there normal shares of trucks.
Doing a search on 250mi from Manasas shows 4,000 2015 F150 on dealer lots or “on order” while there are 11,000 2015 Silverado 1500s in the same radius. Doesn’t seem like they have “normal shares of trucks” to me.
In my area it is 1000 F150s and 2000 1500 Silverados.
In Canada dealers are literally out of F Series, and trucks ordered for customers are taking “forever” to come in. Ford dealers are “walking” deals to GM dealers.
The situation must be the same in the US.
There seems to be lots at the dealership near my home in Ottawa. They have at least 6 with aftermarket wheel/tire brodozer combos sitting up front plus all the stock ones. They wouldn’t bother putting them on those trucks if they didn’t have lots of stock ones to choose from.
Classic “Bait-n-Switch”. They show up looking to trade in their Silverado/Sierra or other GM, on the Hot/New Colorado/Canyon, are disappointed by what they see, MSRP, and end up buying the faithful Silverado/Sierra.
That’s the whole reason for selling the Colorado/Canyon. Not selling them!
I chuckled when I saw they have a chassis cab version. That is the ultimate bait and switch.
I’ve been getting more and more customers tell me something along the lines of “I’ve been doing alot of research and I want one of those Ecoboost motors” and less and less who demand the v8. Even I know there is still things to be proven with the aluminum bodies… but you gotta ask, what if Ford did it right? If 5 years from now there aren’t any issues, the other trucks out there are going to look awful darn silly. Ford is moving forward with the superduty as well, so they have plenty of confidence in it. I don’t think Ford took this undertaking lightly. I’d bet on them.
They definitely did not take this lightly they know that the trucks are their most important product and they pulled out all the stops to ensure success. Yes their sales are down because of product shortages due to the model change over and because they have restricted fleet sales to concentrate on the more profitable models. Ford knew that going in and considered it acceptable because they are concerned about the long range. The investment will continue to pay off as they start spreading the aluminum to the Super Duty and other lines.
GM has already hinted that their next trucks will incorporate more aluminum while they continue to tout the advantages of steel in their current advertizing. Of course when they start touting the advantages of aluminum when their trucks make the switch Ford will have a great advertising opportunity. Ford will be able to say we’ve been building aluminum trucks for X years, we’ve built more aluminum vehicles than all other mfgs combined, X aluminum Ford trucks on the road ect.