GM Dominates Pickup Wars in May

Cars and Drivers

Published: June 2, 2015 12:00 pm

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 10:11 pm

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The best-selling vehicles in the United States during the month of May were, once again, pickups. Americans just cannot get enough of the light-duty vehicles and, even though gasoline prices have risen recently, pump prices are almost a dollar a gallon less than they were at the same time last year.

For May, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) had another tough month in pickup sales. F-Series sales fell 9.7% year over year and are down 1.1% year to date. In unit sales, the F-Series continues to lead all truck makers with 61,870 May sales and year-to-date sales of 302,009. But as unit sales slide, so does market share, and Ford cannot afford to continue losing share to GM and Ram.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) reported Ram pickup sales of 39,952 units in May, up 8% year over year. Year to date, sales are up 5%. In April, Ram sold 37,921 units, according to Kelley Blue Book (KBB).

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) reported Silverado sales of 51,602 in May, up 10.6% year over year and up from 45,978 in April, a gain of 12.2% month over month. GM’s other full-size pickup, the Sierra, posted a year-over-year sales gain of 3.6% in May at 18,977 units. Combined, the two pickup models sold 70,579 units in May and have sold 306,506 units year to date.

The other full-size truck maker is Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), which reported light truck sales were up 13.4% year over year in May. Based on KBB’s May 2014 sales total of 12,557, that works out to about 14,240 units.

The approximate total market for pickups in May then was around 186,641. Ford’s share of that total is approximately 33.1%. Silverado gets about 27.6%, Sierra gets about 10.2%, Ram gets 21.4% and Toyota nabs about 7.6%.

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According to KBB again, in May of last year, Ford’s market share was 37.4%, compared with 25.5% for Silverado, 20.3% for Ram, 10% for Sierra and about 6.8% for Toyota.

Last month, Ford’s F-Series claimed 35.6% market share, GM claimed 36.2% with its two brands, Ram grabbed 21.5% share and Toyota picked up 6.7% of the total U.S. market.

Comparing auto sales month-over-month is useful at best only to illustrate a current trend. Comparable sales year-over-year are generally considered to be more relevant. By either measure, Ford had a tough May and GM had a good one.

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