Ford F-150 Top Selling Car In June, Followed By Silverado and Ram

The three full-sized American pick-ups continued to be the best selling cars in June, a sign of a drop in concern about gas costs, and the place that the pick-up plays in transportation. Sales of perennial sales leader, the Ford (NYSE: F) F-150 topped the list, followed by GM’s (NYSE: GM) Chevy Silverado, and the Fiat Chrysler (NYSE: FCAU) Dodge Ram

Among the three pick-ups, they represent over 10% of all American car and light truck sales in the first half–899,000 out of 8.645 million.

Despite anxiety that the addition of aluminum to parts of the body of the F-150 would hurt sales nothing could be further than the truth. Chevy has attacked the new construction as substandard and vulnerable to damage. It has not worked.

Ford sold 70,937 F-150 pick-ups, higher by 28.6% in June. First half sales were 395,244, up 10.7%. Of the three products, the Silverado is the only one which suffered a drop in sales, down 3.7% to 49,662 in June, and 3.8% for the first six months to 273,652. Ram sales were relatively strong, up 14.4% to 38,126 in June, and 8.8% for the year to 231,405

Ford management was not shy about its success, nor should it be

Ford truck performance remains the standout for the first half of the year. The company sold 531,500 pickups and vans – a 13 percent gain versus a year ago. Truck sales were up 24 percent in June, driven by strong F-Series sales of 70,937 vehicles – a 29 percent increase versus a year ago and their best June sales performance in more than a decade.

“Strong customer demand has helped us continue growing our truck leadership position, further widening the gap with our nearest competitor versus last year,” said Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “Consumer demand for Ford SUVs also continues to surge to all-time highs, allowing us to introduce new levels of capability, versatility and technology to a whole new generation of SUV fans.”

By means of comparison, the best selling passenger car of June was Toyota’s (NYSE: TM) workhorse Camry. Sales of the mid-priced sedan dropped 13.6% for the month of June to 32,561. First six month sales fell 7.4% to 199,760. So much for the attraction of good gas mileage