Ford F-series leads in sales and growth, as the segment is on its way to beating its 2004 sales record
Sales in the large pickup segment rose by 6.8% to 642,674 in the fourth quarter of 2017, while overall sales in 2017 rose by 5.7% to 2,370,503. This means that the segment is now less than 90,000 units from the peak it reached in 2004, a high-mark that many thought would never be reached again after the segment collapsed to just a bit over 1,100,000 in 2009. What’s more, 2019 promises to be even better, with the hotly-anticipated new RAM Pickup and Chevrolet Silverado going on sales in the first quarter, with the new GMC Sierra following later in the year.
Highlights:
- Ford F-series once again outperformed its direct competitors, as it gained 9% in sales compared to 2016 and widened the lead over the second-placed Chevy Silverado to over 300,000, up from 180,000 only three years prior
- The second-placed Chevrolet Silverado and third-placed RAM Pickup did well to gain some sales in their runout years, and it will be interesting how many sales they can pick up in 2018 once the much-vaunted new generation models go on sale
Note: Clicking on the model name opens the sales data page for that model; clicking year in the legend turns the display for that year on/off
- The fourth-placed GMC Sierra was the worst performer in the segment, but with sales hardly declining it’s an indication of just how in-demand large pickups are right now
- Nissan Titan saw its sales rise by almost 150% in 2017, which seems like a great performance, but one has to remember this comes from a low base in 2016, and the model’s sales are still a third below the record set by the first-generation model in 2005, and less than half of the aging Toyota Tundra
Note: clicking on the model names in legend turns the display for that model on/off; data is displayed from 1990 onwards, but starts earlier – access previous years using slider on bottom