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2007: The year in truck sales
While the big news story surrounding 2007 sales is that Toyota passed Ford as the No. 2 best-selling automaker in the U.S. last year, there were plenty of interesting battles happening between individual models, as well. The truck segment, though shrinking, is still the most competitive in the U.S. market, and 2007 saw the most serious challenge yet to the domestics' market dominance with the introduction of the 2007 Toyota Tundra.
While the F-Series pickup retained its title of Best-Selling Truck for the 31st year in a row (also the Best-Selling Vehicle in the U.S. for the 26th year in a row), its sales fell 13.2% to 690,589. And to think, the F-Series' best-selling year ever was just three years ago in 2004 when it sold 939,511 units. Give the F-Series credit, however, for retaining its No. 1 position despite a brand new Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra on the market. GM's new GMT900 trucks did help the automaker mitigate a similar sales slide, with sales falling only 2.8% to 618,257 for the Silverado and 1.2% to 208,243 for the Sierra in 2007. The Dodge Ram also did well despite the shrinking market, with sales off just 2% at 358,295.
The Toyota Tundra, however, is the story the year...
Follow the jump for more analysis and the raw sales numbers for trucks sold in the U.S. last year.
[Sources: Ford, GM, Chrysler LLC, Toyota, Nissan]
...Its sales were up 57.4% in 2007, a year in which Toyota sold both the old, smaller Tundra early on and the new, larger Tundra for the remainder of the year. Toyota boldly made the claim that it hoped to sell 200,000 Tundras in 2007, which it fell short of achieving by just 3,445 units. It did, however, come within spitting distance of passing the GMC Sierra to become the fourth best-selling truck in the U.S. Despite some quality issues and one official recall, we'd say Toyota overcame the odds to make a significant dent in the market.
And then there's Nissan, which just doesn't offer enough variations of its Titan pickup to be a real player in the segment. Nissan's actively seeking a partner to produce a diesel engine for the Titan, which if such a model were to beat its competitors to market, would help the truck's fortunes tremendously.
Since automakers don't break down their numbers, counting sales of both half-ton and heavy/super-duty trucks together, we can't tell you how, say, the F-150 fared against the new Chevy Silverado 1500. Also keep in mind that trucks were probably the most incentivized vehicles of the past year, with thousands of dollars dumped on the hoods of each to keep them moving off the lots. Nevertheless, the numbers speak for themselves, and they say that people are buying a lot less trucks than they have in a long time.
Ford F-Series: 690,589
Chevy Silverado: 618,257
Dodge Ram: 358,295
GMC Sierra: 208,243
Toyota Tundra: 196,555
Nissan Titan: 65,746
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Avinash machado 10:38AM (1/04/2008)
If the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra were added together then the F150 would actually be the second best selling truck. Anyway the Sierra is just a rebadged Silverado with more upmarket trim and both could be counted as just a single model.
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Andrew L 10:40AM (1/04/2008)
yea and if we do that why dont we combine the sales of the Lincon Mark LT while were at it....
Frank 10:50AM (1/04/2008)
What they need is platform sales figure. It would be interesting to know how much sales the automakers are ringing out of each platform. How many Focus, Mazda 3's, Volvo C30's? How many Toyota Camry/Lexus ES whatever (or is it Avalon/Lexus ES whatever?)? Anyway, it would be intersting to look at. How many G6's, Aura's and Malibu's does GM sell? How many Titan's, Armada's, and Infiniti Q56's(?) does Nissan sell?
psarhjinian 11:31AM (1/04/2008)
We have to make the distinction between platform sharing that still results in a distinct model (Altima and Murano, Camry and RX350) a basic nosejob (Colorado/Canyon, Sierra/Silverado, F150/MarkLT) and a reskin (Escalade, Sequoia).
I'd say the GMT900s and F150/M.LT are close enough to be conglomerated. I don't think that the Sierra and Escalade are, though. It's a fine line and I'm not sure where to draw it.
Driver X 10:48AM (1/04/2008)
GM beats Ford and the Lincoln Mark LT combined. What did Lincoln sell? 10 Mark LT's last year.
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LMdealer 12:42PM (1/05/2008)
Lincoln sold 415 more Mark LT's than Cadillac sold Escalade EXT's according to Automotive News.
Dustin 11:05AM (1/04/2008)
If GM didn't offer the GMC version of the Silverado, don't just assume they'd all go over and buy the Chevy. Frankly the GMC is the only one that looks decent of the two. The Chevy IMHO is UGLY!
So i'd split up those sales in 3, like this: 1/2 to Chevy, 1/4 to Ford, rest to well the rest.
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Jeff 11:08AM (1/04/2008)
Agreed that it's stupid that the Silverado and Sierra are listed separately. They are the exact same truck. Much more similar than most platform mates.
The Silverado/Sierra should be considered the number one truck, F-Series/Mark LT Number two, Dodge Ram number three, and Toyota Tundra number four.
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Schmeltz 11:16AM (1/04/2008)
I'm a little suprised that Toyota narrowly missed their 200,000 sales goal for the Tundra. In the Spring of 2007, Jerry Flint over at Forbes predicted Toyota wouldn't make this sales goal...looks like he made that call correctly. They dumped tons of money in the factory and advertising campaign for this truck, and probably expected a great deal more sales than 200,000, probably more like 250,000 the first year. The fact that Toyota actually missed a sales projection (albeit closely) is a newsworthy story of its own. There was a lot of hoopla in the press and otherwise when the new Tundra was introduced that predicted the immediate destruction of the Detroit pick-up truck market, but that didn't exactly happen. Not to say it won't happen, (as it very well could eventually), but I think this goes to show the difficulty and competitiveness of the truck market. The Tundras are nice IMO as I've rode in one already, although their competition is making some excellent products in this segment too. Expect the truck wars to continue, and we the consumers reap the benefits of their competition.
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AZMike 12:26PM (1/04/2008)
you need to consider some of the tactics Toyota probably did, not unheard of in the car business.
the one major one is to cut a deal to the dealerships themselves from the factory if they buy multiple trucks for the dealership: i.e., for parts department/delivery use, or anything else they might creatively think up.
I've been in and around the car business most of my adult life, and owned a dealership for ten years. I can't even remember how many times the either dealership purchased
10-15 vehicles on December 31, or brought in customers for the deal of a lifetime. the car business, like many others, is very numbers-oriented; always looking at month-end/year-end sales.
with that being said, Toyota didn't make it, when they failed to meet even their modest goal. the bloom is definitely off of this rose, if there ever was one.
it's too bad that the manufacturers don't break down numbers by model. even though the 1/2 ton market is the largest, the heavy duty truck market is worth at least 35-40% of the total, and Toyota doesn't compete here at all, and probably never will at this point.
the Japanese by nature are very conservative, and really stuck their necks out on the whole concept of selling a full size, V-8 powered pickup. the San Antonio factory was built with much fanfare, and the capability for producing 500,000 trucks right in the heart of pickup country. factor in the capacity of the Princeton, Indiana factory at 350,000 more units; that makes for a total capacity of 850,000 units.
the Princeton factory also builds the Sequoia; being very generous, let's say they sell 50,000 Sequoias annually.
do you think that producing 250,000 units with a capacity of 850,000 is good utilization of production? I think not.
let the monster Toyopet rebates begin!
AZMike
Mr. Oak 11:46AM (1/04/2008)
Now that the "Turth About Tundras" is out, I seriously doubt that they will do as well next year.
This segment will face continued hardships though.
Automobiles are now more reliable and last longer than 10 - 15 years ago. People are now hanging on to their cars/trucks considerable longer than in the past. This is why emerging markets are so important to the industry. Existing markets are slowing down.
'08 is going to be a big indication of things to come. Will Toyota be able to withstand the onslaught of blows to the head from GM.
One indication of GM loosening Toyota's stranglehold, has been taking place on the undercard. Its the Cobalt/Corolla confrontation. The underdog Cobalt has been giving the Corolla one helluva fight. If the Malibu\Aura combination can take the Camry down, that would be a big ouch for Toyota. Their once prominent SUV\CUV offerings are also gradually being sidelined.
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henrykrinkle 11:57AM (1/04/2008)
First half of 2007:
Subcompacts: (fleet) | (retail) | (total) | (% fleet)
Chevrolet Cobalt: 29,090 | 44,141 | 73,231 | 39.7%
Toyota Corolla 22,999 | 121,348 | 144,347 | 15.9%
Kind of a one-sided fight or did Cobalt sales skyrocket in the second half?
Mr. Oak 12:42PM (1/04/2008)
You're right, Here are their September numbers alone. They actually had a hell of a 2nd half.
Vehicle September 2007 sales Percent change
1. Ford F-series pickup 56,056 -21 percent
2. Chevrolet Silverado p/u 52,480 1 percent
3. Toyota Camry 40,438 6 percent
4. Honda Accord 35,031 26 percent
5. Dodge Ram pickup 30,100 20 percent
6. Toyota Corolla/Matrix 29,550 -9 percent
7. Nissan Altima 27,871 41 percent
8. Honda Civic 24,752 -6 percent
9. Chevrolet Impala 23,172 6 percent
10. Chevrolet Cobalt 19,794 30 percent
http://thecarnut.typepad.com/steve_parker_the_car_nut_/2007/10/best-selling-ca.html
BAHARRIS 12:02PM (1/04/2008)
TUNDRA IS JUNK ON THE INSIDE PURE CHEAP
LOOKING.GAS MILEAGE IS WORSE THAN A NEW SILVERADO,WHY WOULD ANY REAL AMERICAN BUY A RICE BURNER WHEN THEY CAN GET AN F150 OR A NEW SILVERADO!!!!
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MikeW 12:49PM (1/04/2008)
because they can't stand obsolete 4 speed automatics.
koncha 12:31PM (1/04/2008)
A real American would purchase a Toyota Tundra because ALL of them are made in the USA (Texas and Indiana) so the wages paid for the assembly of a Tundra ends up in the hands of American workers.
If you buy a Silverado, your money may end up paying the wages for a Canadian or Mexican worker. Silverados are built in Canada and Mexico as well as the USA. A lot of the profits end up in the well-lined pockets of the executives at GM. Because an American executive makes about 4 times what a Japanese executive makes, its far more likely that your American pride is doing more to fund Bob Lutz's newest personal fighter jet (BTW, its Czech-built, not American) than you are actually doing to help American workers.
After the executives get their money, the remainder of the profits are distributed to the shareholders in the form of dividends. As an American, you can get a piece of Toyota profits by purchasing TM from the NYSE. You can do the same with GM, F and Nissan.
obie 5:44PM (1/04/2008)
Isn't one of the many "benefits" of a 6-speed improved fuel economy? The GMT-900s are trucks, meant for work, and that's mostly what they get used for. Why throw a 6-speed in there if your 4-speed gets the job done and gets it done reliably? Just think of all the time that goes into designing a vehicle, especially a model as important as the GMT-900. Because more and more vehicles come with 6-speeds does not make a 6-speed the right choice for the job.
Also, the line workers and executives are not the only ones affected by people buying vehicles from non-U.S. based companies. What about the thousands of mid-level corporate workers that have been laid off by the Big 3 recently? Although a lot of that had to do with the companies themselves, a portion also lies with the American consumers.
Judy Zik 9:26PM (1/04/2008)
How horrible. One of those evil alien Canadians might get a paycheque. You Yanks can be such a-holes sometimes. We had this little thing called the Auto Pact from the 50's up to Free Trade took over. It basically gave the big three American car companies ownership of the Canadian market as long as they agreed to build some cars here. Even with all the competition now it is ironic that in Canada last year sales were...
1) GM
2) Chrysler
3) Ford
4) Toyota
So Canadians actually put their money where their mouth is and support the "domestic" manufacturers more than Americans do. Especially when you consider that Toyota and Honda both build cars here too.
My Dad spent his working life building F150's in Oakville. They closed that plant (after he retired) even though it was cheaper to build trucks there and the quality numbers were better. They killed it because politically it looked better among American rednecks if they could say their F150 was built a couple of hours down the highway in Michigan. Hard working folks and their jobs matter whether they are from Kentucky or Ontario.
MikeW 11:58PM (1/05/2008)
newness shouldn't be equated to be unreliable.
The suburban 2500/yukon XL 2500 have the 6L90
The silverado/sierra 2500HD & 3500HD also have the 6L90
The Yukon Denali & yukon denali XL & sierra denali crew cab get the 6L80 & 6.2 V8.
The 6 speed auto is the correct tool for the job.
Why can't the silverado 1500 get the 5.3 V8 & 6L80 as the standard powertrain? Enough of the antiquated 4.3 V6. How about having a work truck model, that really can do work.
Don't forget the 6L50 for the canyon/colorado
Why doesn't Ford already have a ZF 6 speed auto in the F-150 (the navigator got it for MY '05)
Guenther 11:18PM (1/06/2008)
MikeW- for the 47th time- its plant retooling. give it time. Of course the premium vehicles get the new transmissions first. Patience, grasshopper.