Cain’s Segments:Truck, Truck, Hooray!

U.S. sales of pickup trucks rose 19% in May 2013 despite the disappearance of 6175 Ford Rangers, Dodge Dakotas, Suzuki Equators, Chevrolet Colorados, and GMC Canyons. So strong were sales of the remaining trucks that these deficits weren't simply accounted for, they were overcome to the tune of 32,144 extra sales. Overall, the auto industry reported 108,594 more sales this May than last, according to Automotive News. That works out to an 8% improvement. More than a hundred passenger car nameplates combined to generate about 36,000 more sales in May 2013 than in May 2012. Auto May 2013 May 2012 May % Change 5 mos. 2013 5 mos. 2012 YTD % Change Ford F-Series 71,604 54,836 + 30.6% 299,477 246,116 + 21.7% Chevrolet Silverado 43,283 34,555 + 25.3% 199,327 160,942 + 23.9% Ram Pickup 31,672 26,040 + 21.6% 140,675 114,630 + 22.7% GMC Sierra 16,061 13,196 + 21.7% 71,065 60,466 + 17.5% Toyota Tacoma 14,727 12,269 + 20.0% 67,165 55,289 + 21.5% Toyota Tundra 9950 8765 + 13.5% 41,806 36,418 + 14.8% Nissan Frontier 6570 5480 + 19.9% 23,903 23,734 + 0.7% Chevrolet Avalanche 1980 2113 - 6.3% 10,166 9283 + 9.5% Honda Ridgeline 1626 1199 + 35.6% 7448 6084 + 22.4% Nissan Titan 1402 2166 - 35.3% 7552 8347 - 9.5% Chevrolet Colorado 244 3778 - 93.5% 2879 17,333 - 83.4% Cadillac Escalade EXT 200 137 + 46.0% 973 672 + 44.8% GMC Canyon 88 910 - 90.3% 812 4761 - 82.9% Suzuki Equator — 186 - 100% 448 753 - 40.5% Ford Ranger — 1607 - 100% — 17,526 - 100% Dodge Dakota — 26 - 100% — 441 - 100% — — — — — — — Total 199,407 167,263 + 19.2% 873,696 762,795 + 14.5% As always, the Ford F-Series led the way in the pickup truck market. The big change in May related to its ability to crest the 70,000-unit barrier for the first time since March 2007. Ford's 31% F-Series improvement was the biggest year-over-year increase during the F-Series' 22-month streak of increases. The F-Series outsold the GM twins, Chevrolet's Silverado and GMC's Sierra, by 12,260 units, up from a 7085-unit gap a year ago. Strictly on volume terms, May 2013 wasn't a bad month for the GM trucks. Joint Silverado/Sierra volume jumped 24%. Together they added 11,593 sales to the General Motors mix – GM was up 3%, or 7638 units. Three out of every ten Ford brand sales in May occurred because of the F-Series. During a month in which Ford utility vehicle sales rose 17%, and the Escape reached an all-time high in U.S. volume, the F-Series outsold the five Ford utilities by nearly 4000 units. Chrysler's Ram truck has posted year-over-year gains in 37 consecutive months. Its market share in the category, 15.9%, grew from 15.6% in May 2012. Through the first five months of 2013, Ram P/U market share in the whole 14-truck category has risen to 16.1% from 15% in the equivalent period of 2012. These four full-size trucks, together with the Toyota Tundra, Nissan Titan, Chevrolet Avalanche, and Cadillac Escalade EXT, were responsible for 88% of all truck sales in May 2013. Of the remaining 23,255 sales, 63% went the way of Toyota's Tacoma. As a group, trucks accounted for 13.8% of the U.S. auto industry's 1.44 million new vehicle sales in May, up sharply from 12.5% in May 2012. The non-truck market produced gains in May, but those gains measured 6.5%, rather than than the truck-inclusive 8.1%. The truck category's ability to continue to grow at this pace would seem to depend somewhat on GM's ability to continue selling such a large number of trucks once discounts are, presumably, not so readily available on the next-gen trucks later this year. On the other hand, the current growth rate at Ford and Ram, though undoubtedly aided by incentives, is taking place in the light of newness, not under the shadow of run-out specials. Independent analyst Timothy Cain is the founder and editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. His look at the important segments will be a permanent fixture at TTAC, along with a  look at the market up North.   from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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