General
Motors’ product planners may be scratching their heads at the way the US market
has moved in the direction of the Ram 1500 pick-up truck.
According to the latest US figures for March 2014,
sales of the Ram 1500 tipped 42,532 units – a rise of 25.7 per cent over March
2013 – just beating sales of the Chevrolet Silverado at 42,247 units, a rise of
only 6.8 per cent over March 2013.
That still leaves Ford in
top spot with 70,940 units for the month of March – a rise of 5.1 percent. So both contenders are way
behind the giant of the pack.
Overall, on a model year to
date basis Ford has sold 173,358 F-Series trucks, a rise of 2.7 per cent,
whereas sales of the Chevrolet Silverado on the same basis slipped minus 7.6 per
cent to 107,757 units.
But sales of Ram 1500 have
picked up 24.9 per cent to 96,906 units.
According to PickupTrucks.com,
“We should note that GM has been rolling out its heavy-duty truck line-up the
last few months, and select models of the half-ton Chevy Silverado and GMC
Sierra are not selling as well as GM had hoped. Still, when compared to last
month, Chevy Silverado sales have made a huge turnaround, improving by 23
percent. However, the issues surrounding GM's ignition recall debacle probably
aren't helping the company's sales overall.”
“That said, Ford continues
to make steady progress, moving beyond the 70,000-unit mark for the first time
this year. As dealerships thaw out and people start spending more time on
dealer lots, we can expect more good news as full-size pickup sales continue
their steady climb. And
don't forget, we'll have two new midsize pickups debuting later this fall.
Where the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon will take sales from will be
interesting to watch,” added PickupTrucks.com
All of which will probably
leave the product planners at GM wondering what they have to do to recapture
lost ground.
It will be interesting to see how and when GM moves on the
diesel engine issue. One thing is for
sure, it looks like The General needs a diesel to match the 3-litre V6 VM Motori oil
burner with its compacted graphite iron (CGI) cylinder block in the Ram 1500. ∎
1 comment:
Nice blog. Yes Fuel becoming more costly day by day. People should use electric cars to avoid fuel costs. It is also environmental friendly. To avoid pollution and also the high cost of fuel car users should use hybrid cars , electric cars or fuel efficient cars.
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