July 2016 Truck Sales – Mid-Size Trucks Dominate
Tim Esterdahl | Aug 02, 2016 | Comments 1
The surprising resurgence in mid-size trucks has fueled another month of increased truck sales with those trucks dominating the results. While their full-size brethren tried to keep pace, the mid-size trucks were really the July sales stars.
With the new 2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro hitting dealer lots later this month, one should expect Tacoma sales to continue to grow.
Before we dive too deep into analyzing the month, here are the results.
| Rank | Model YTD Sales | YTD vs. 2015 | Year-Over-Year | Monthly Sales | Monthly Change vs. 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - Ford F-Series | 460,091 | +8.8% | July 2016 July 2015 | 65,657 66,288 | -1.0% |
| 2 - Chevy Silverado | 327,768 | -1.3% | July 2016 July 2015 | 54,116 56,380 | -4.0% |
| 3 - Ram Truck | 270,637 | +6.2% | July 2016 July 2015 | 39,827 39,159 | +1.7% |
| 4 - GMC Sierra | 128,894 | +6.8% | July 2016 July 2015 | 22,428 19,808 | +13.2% |
| 5 - Toyota Tacoma | 111,615 | +5.5% | July 2016 July 2015 | 16,580 17,033 | -2.7% |
| 6 - Toyota Tundra | 65,440 | -8.5% | July 2016 July 2015 | 10,474 10,511 | -0.4% |
| 7 - Chevrolet Colorado | 60,422 | +23.9% | July 2016 July 2015 | 9,159 7,209 | +27.5% |
| 8 - Nissan Frontier | 52,255 | +34.0% | July 2016 July 2015 | 7,244 4,194 | +72.7% |
| 9 - GMC Canyon | 20,894 | +18.2% | July 2016 July 2015 | 3,532 2,654 | +33.1% |
| 10 - Nissan Titan | 7,242 | +0.9% | July 2016 July 2015 | 1,143 1,126 | +1.5% |
| 11 - Honda Ridgeline | 5,992 | +1,077% | July 2016 July 2015 | 3,518 6 | +58,533% |
While the Frontier sales growth (72.7%!) leads off the list of surprises, the Ridgeline faired pretty well in its inital sales and the Chevy Colorado continued to improve (likely thanks to GM increasing production by moving vans out of Wentzville).
Once again, we see the Tacoma leading the Tundra as the larger truck continues to tread water against prior year’s sales numbers. One can expect this trend to continue with the Tacoma TRD Pro expected to hit dealer lots later this month.
Ford and Chevy continue to battle over the top spot. Chevy is firing up its truck month incentive deals once again while Ford just rolled out the next generation of Super Duty trucks.
Ram seems to be content staying on the side for right now and not offering the huge incentives Chevy is putting out. There is a new Ram 1500 in the works and it looks like they are riding out the current generation in order to prepare for the next generation.
All in all, the mid-size sales results continue to surprise and fluster critics who wonder why anyone would pay for a smaller truck when their aren’t any real MPG differences. The smaller size with its easier to drive/park and better access to the bed is simply more appealing than most give them credit for.
Filed Under: Auto News
I suspect the upswing in mid-size truck sales is mostly driven by their mostly lower price, when compared to 1/2 ton full size trucks. Over the past several years the price of full size trucks has increased quite a bit and now I think it’s hitting price threshold, as seen in the increase in mid-size truck sales.