June might have been the beginning of summer, but vehicle sales were cold. The only shining light in the market is sales of pickup trucks. Demand for pickups continue to rise as other vehicle types lag behind.
General Motors’ biggest sellers, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, showed a 25 percent increase in June, and they are up 11 percent overall for the year so far.
The vice president of domestic sales for GM, Don Johnson, stated the surge is due to companies investing in their businesses, and said the trend “is an indication that a fundamental part of the U.S. economy is gradually strengthening.”
Ford has also shown tremendous growth in their pickup truck sales. Overall for the year, they are up 33 percent, much higher than standard autos and SUVs. The 2011 F-Series Super Duty showed the most growth at 58 percent in June, while the F-150 was up 25 percent for the month.
Nissan reported their Titan pickup was up 24 percent for June and 26 percent for the year.
The Toyota Tundra sold well also in June, up 49 percent and for the year, up 26 percent. Overall, Toyota light trucks are showing a 17 percent increase for the year. Toyota announced that sales for June could have been better but they suffered from low inventory in June.
GM remains optimistic about the future. GM vice president of global product planning, Steve Carlisle, said, “Recent economic news continues to point to a slow recovery with some volatility.”
Ford did not share the opinion of GM. George Pipas, a sales analyst for Ford, said that the company is not expecting pickup sales to hold the industry up until further improvement is seen in the housing market.
Pickup buyers are being attracted due to generous incentives. Zero-percent financing, discounts, and rebates have done much to bring in buying customers. GM has provided the highest incentives on the Silverado, while Ford incentives for their F-150 were slightly less.
Comments on this entry are closed.