Market Share Analysis – Full Size Trucks First Half 2019
The full-size pickup truck market is 2 million plus sales per year market in the US. The market has been growing steadily after the economic shock a decade ago. It is possible the full-size truck market may continue to grow even if the overall new vehicle market contracts for 2019.
There are three major players, Ford, GM, and Ram. Ford has dominated this market for years, with the Ford F series regularly the most popular new vehicle in the US. The Japanese manufacturers have not been major players in this market. Below we analyze the light duty section of this market (Ford F150, Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, GMC Sierra 1500).
So how are various trucks doing in the first half of 2019?
The Japanese entries account for 6% of the sales. The Japanese entries gained market share in the full-size truck market during the 2008-2010 economic turmoil, but that was short lived. Toyota Tundra and Nissan Titan have remained at a combined 6-7% of the market for almost a decade.
Ram has 25% of the market for the first half of 2019. Ram has seen its market share creeping upwards for the past decade, but for 2019 the increase is more substantial. Ram currently sells both the new Ram and the Ram Classic, but they don’t provide a breakdown between the two models. Ram is also benefiting from an increase in production capacity. Where have Ram’s buyers come from? Some are likely coming from the expansion of the full-size truck market, but some are coming from the competition.
It doesn’t look like Ford is losing ground to Ram. Ford is still holding 38% of the market, though some may criticize Ford’s reliance on fleet sales. However, this strategy seems to work well for Ford. Ford doesn’t look to have suffered too much from the supplier fire in May 2018 that temporarily shit down F150 production last year.
What about GM? GM isn’t doing as well in this market. GMC has suffered a bit, falling from 10% to 8% over the past 4 years. But that’s more a function of GMC sales holding steady as the market grows. The big loser has been Chevrolet. Chevy trucks are now 22% of the market so far in 2019. This is down from 27% just five years ago. There is some talk that GM is still ramping up production on the new models, so this could be a factor but doesn’t explain the entire decline in market share. It seems GM is trying harder to distinguish between Chevy and GMC. Chevy is taking a more aggressive approach to front styling while GMC is maintaining a more conventional look. GM earlier this decade removed two slow selling models from this segment, the Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT. Is it possible GM is losing some fill size sales to their midsize Colorado and Canyon models? Later this week we’ll look at the small/mid-size truck market.
So to summarize:
Win: Ram
Lose: Chevy and to a lesser extent GMC
Draw: Ford, the imports
Sales figures courtesy of goodcarbadcar.net and the manufacturers.
Mark has been a technical writer for many years, working for automotive suppliers. He has always been an avid reader of magazines and websites dedicated to the domestic auto industry, and spent a lot of time analyzing sales trends in changing automotive markets. Mark’s fascination with the automotive industry began by reading yearbooks as a young child that highlighted the yearly changes cars used to receive every fall. From that, he developed a love of model car building.
The cars of his childhood were mainly large Ford and Chevrolet sedans. Some of his previous restoration projects include a 1967 Plymouth Valiant, a 1980 Plymouth Volare Road Runner, and a 1989 Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible.
You can reach Mark at +1.516-531-4021.