After being the only segment in the US car market to improve sales in the first quarter of 2020, full sized pickup trucks are struggling with inventory levels as production interruptions and continued strong demand are starting to worry some of the Detroit Three automakers. Still, at -11% the full sized pickup class is one of the best performing and has increased its share of the US car market to 16.3%.
Traditional leader Ford F-Series is losing ground with sales down 18% and its share down from 38.2% to 35%. But a new generation F-150 is on its way and Ford is not going to let any truck come even near its sales volumes. After struggling with its full-sized pickups last year, General Motors is the big winner in 2020 as its two nameplates are the only two in the black so far this year. The Chevrolet Silverado reclaims the #2 spot from the RAM Pickup thanks to sales up 4% vs the RAM’s -18%, while the GMC Sierra is up 10% to top 100,000 sales for the first half of the year. As a result, GM now holds 35.7% of the segment and beats Ford to become the biggest automaker in the segment. The Japanese models remain niche players in this class, combining for less than 6% of sales. The Toyota Tundra is down 10% and the Nissan Titan is down 32% to just over 2,000 monthly sales, about as many a the F-Series sells in half a day.
US large pickup sales 2020 first half
| Large Pickup segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | Share | |
| 1 | Ford F-series | 367.387 | 448.398 | -18% | 35,0% |
| 2 | Chevrolet Silverado | 267.166 | 256.777 | 4% | 25,5% |
| 3 | Ram Pickup | 246.253 | 299.480 | -18% | 23,5% |
| 4 | GMC Sierra | 106.833 | 97.403 | 10% | 10,2% |
| 5 | Toyota Tundra | 48.880 | 54.497 | -10% | 4,7% |
| 6 | Nissan Titan | 12.196 | 18.026 | -32% | 1,2% |
| Segment total | 1.048.715 | 1.174.581 | -11% |
Source: Manufacturers.