Sales of full sized pickup trucks in the US are up 5% in the first quarter of 2021, trailing the overall market due to supply shortages. With nearly 570,000 sales in the quarter, this is the third-largest class in the United States, after compact crossovers and midsized crossovers. Its share is shrinking to 14.5%, from 15.4% in Q1 of 2020 and from 15.9% in all of 2020.
Traditional leader Ford F-Series has been renewed in 2020, and manages to improve its share of the class to 35.8%, thanks to sales up 9%. The RAM Pickup does even better at +16% which allows it to move back into second place ahead of the Chevrolet Silverado, down 13%. As a result of that, Ford once again sells more full-sized pickup trucks than General Motors, as combined sales of the Silverado and its sibling model GMC Sierra add up to just under 190,000. That is despite a 19% increase in Sierra deliveries, a similar trend we’ve seen in the full-sized SUV class where the Chevrolet Tahoe loses share but the GMC Yukon outperforms the segment. That also translates to higher margins for GM, as the GMC models are priced higher and those customers more often choose the premium trimlines Denali and AT4, pushing transaction prices even further. The Japanese competitors see their share of the class drop to 4.7%, with the Toyota Tundra down 12% as it’s due for its first redesign since 2007, and the Nissan Titan up 30% to become the best performer in the class in relative terms. However, it comes from so far that its absolute figures are still insignificant. And this improvement is a result of discounts, eroding the margin the company and its dealers make in these trucks, which for the domestic automaker are one of their biggest money makers.
US large pickup sales 2021-Q1
| Large Pickup segment | 2021-Q1 | 2020-Q1 | Change | Share | |
| 1 | Ford F-series | 203.797 | 186.562 | 9% | 35,8% |
| 2 | Ram Pickup | 148.836 | 128.805 | 16% | 26,2% |
| 3 | Chevrolet Silverado | 126.591 | 144.734 | -13% | 22,3% |
| 4 | GMC Sierra | 62.917 | 53.009 | 19% | 11,1% |
| 5 | Toyota Tundra | 19.134 | 21.658 | -12% | 3,4% |
| 6 | Nissan Titan | 7.463 | 5.732 | 30% | 1,3% |
| Segment total | 568.738 | 540.500 | 5% |
Source: Manufacturers.