May proved to be an extremely strong month for sales in the pickup truck category. All but three automakers posted respectable gains in year-over-year monthly sales, with the Toyota Tacoma->ke1042 scoring a surprising lead of 26.3 percent growth followed by the Chevrolet Silverado->ke1787 at 10.6 percent. However, Ford’s->ke31 F-Series->ke1913 posted a 9.7-percent decrease in sales over May 2014.
Ford’s slack in sales can likely be attributed to supplier issues and the gradual rollout of the all-new 2015 F-150. With dealers low on sock, Ford sold some 6,650 fewer trucks than in last May. Those supplier issues boil down to a lack of steel frames on which to build the F-150. However, Ford has announced it will be cutting its traditional two-week summer break down by half in efforts to meet demands of the F-150 and other hot-selling vehicles.
On the flip side, Tacoma sales were up 3,644 units over last May, accounting for the 26.3-percent growth. While the Tacoma has always been a hot seller, the growth is surprising with the revised 2016 Tacoma only months away. The Silverado showed impressive gains as well, selling 4,954 more trucks over May 2014.
General Motor’s new mid-size trucks are also doing well, with the Colorado selling a total of 35,017 units since its launch with the Canyon selling 12,485. Combined, the two trucks have outsold the Nissan Frontier so far this year by a whopping 17,134 units. Nevertheless, the Tacoma is still on top, selling 72,842 trucks year-to-date.
Dragging along in last place is the Honda Ridgeline with a year-to-date sales total of 496. It’s worse when looking at May 2015 sales as Honda sold a mere 26 units – a drop of 98.2 percent. Granted, Honda is preparing an all-new version of the Ridgeline due out in 2017.
While Ford may have posted a decrease in May sales, the blue oval still leads all other truck makers in terms of overall sales, having moved 302,009 F-Series trucks since January. That's a total of 77,735 units more than the second-place Silverado.
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Why It Matters
Truck sales are immensely important to automakers since many of them rely on these bread and butter crash crops to fill company coffers. The F-Series is by far Ford’s best-selling vehicle and the Silverado certainly lands at the top of Chevrolet’s list. Hopefully Ford can sort out is supplier issue and get both its F-150 plants moving at full capacity.