Sales in the Large Pickup segment grew by 2.5 percent in 2016, a slightly faster rate than the market overall, but considerably slower than the Small Pickup segment. That is to be expected – with total sales of 2,242,282 the segment is the third largest, following the Compact SUV and Mid-sized segments, and as such it would be unreasonable to expect double-digit rates of growth. Still, with slowly rising fuel prices pushing customers towards smaller pickups and nothing in the way of new metal arriving anytime soon (other than the continued rollout of new versions of the new-for-2016 Nissan Titan), it’s entirely possible the segment may not gain many sales at all in 2017, or even losing sales for the first time since 2010.
Highlights in 2016:
Nissan Titan- Ford F-series remained the undisputed segment leader with over 820,000 units sold, almost a quarter million more than did the second-placed Chevrolet Silverado; in addition, thanks to a healthy 5 percent growth rate in sales the F-series once again sold more than the combined tally of the GM large pickups, the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra, whose sales fell in 2016 by 4 and 1 percent, respectively
- RAM Pickup did even better than the F-series, with sales up by 8 percent in 2016, allowing the model to outsell the Silverado in September 2016 for the first time since April 2014, and bringing its annual sales to within 15,000 of that exclusive half-million sales threshold
- Sales of the Toyota Tundra were down 3 percent compared to last year, a steady performance for pickup that’s slowly starting to age and fall behind its newer competition
- Nissan Titan saw its sales take off in the second half of the year after deliveries of the light-duty version started in September, with growth in Q4 of 316 percent resulting in sales of over 10,000 for the first time since Q3 2008
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