Light truck sales in March
rose by 11.3% over last year to 829,425 from 745,297. That is the highest total
achieved in any month in the history of the sector. It makes a mockery of all
of the forecasts that predict that the sector is about to turn downwards almost
immediately and it calls for revisions of all expectations. The only note of
caution should be that stock market activities over the past week have shown
what many have known – that the US market is overheated – and the warning signs
are there that there might be more than just a return to sensibility on the
cards, there could be a total collapse. But until that happens, it has to be
accepted that sales for the first three months of the year were 12.4% above
last year’s record-breaking levels at 2,143,856 from 1,907,661.

Just to put figures into
context, the market is now running at double the rate of the early years of
the 1990s. The annualised selling rate has now risen to 8.44 million units,
and as long as there is no major collapse, the full year will probably finish
somewhere around the 8.4 million mark. The market should now be turning down
of its own volition, but news is out that the sector only has another three
or four years before it has to come into line with the passenger car sector
as far as emission controls are concerned. That being the case, those who still
crave for gas guzzlers and mighty macho machines will probably keep the sector
moving until such time as legislation kicks in.

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The growth in the market
has been phenomenal, brought about mostly by legislation that limited the
options available to car
buyers. From an annual sales level of around 4 million in the early part of
the 1990s, sales rose quickly to 6 million in 1994, 7 million in 1998 and then
broke the 8 million barrier in 1999. The chart shows that if the trend could
continue unabated, then the 9 million mark would be
reached sometime next year.
The exceptions in the market number just four, and two of those are in the DaimlerChrysler
camp. Plymouth have seen sales dive by 56.7% to 18,039 from 41,688, but that
is more to do with the Voyager sales now showing under the Chrysler banner.
If Voyager is added back into the figures, however, there is still a decline
of 17.8%, and that is despite the availability of generous incentives. Jeep
is also failing to match year ago levels, although not by very much.

Sales of the Mercury Villager
have fallen sharply, and Volkswagen is going nowhere at all with its EuroVan,
but apart from that, it is still full steam ahead for most players.

USA Light Truck Sales

Manufacturer

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Group

3 Months 2000

% Share

3 Months 1999

% Share

% Change

Volume Change

Ford

Ford

603583

28.2

578883

30.3

4.3

24700

Chevrolet

GM

450805

21

374057

19.6

20.5

76748

Dodge

DC

293889

13.7

281079

14.7

4.6

12810

GMC

GM

132912

6.2

116074

6.1

14.5

16838

Toyota

Toy

127673

6

105117

5.5

21.5

22556

Jeep

DC

120604

5.6

124846

6.5

-3.4

-4242

Nissan

R-N

75572

3.5

45449

2.4

66.3

30123

Honda

Ind

64761

3

49088

2.6

31.9

15673

Chrysler

DC

45403

2.1

17724

0.9

156.2

27679

Lexus

Toy

25093

1.2

18784

1

33.6

6309

Isuzu

GM

23009

1.1

21745

1.1

5.8

1264

Oldsmobile

GM

20511

1

15503

0.8

32.3

5008

Mercury

Ford

19850

0.9

23375

1.2

-15.1

-3525

Pontiac

GM

19048

0.9

16027

0.8

18.8

3021

Plymouth

DC

18039

0.8

41688

2.2

-56.7

-23649

Mitsubishi

Ind

17766

0.8

12250

0.6

45

5516

Mazda

Ford

15718

0.7

11181

0.6

40.6

4537

Kia

Hyun

13692

0.6

12275

0.6

11.5

1417

Mercedes-Benz

DC

13008

0.6

9408

0.5

38.3

3600

Suzuki

Ind

9993

0.5

7016

0.4

42.4

2977

Lincoln

Ford

9984

0.5

9847

0.5

1.4

137

Cadillac

GM

7378

0.3

4166

0.2

77.1

3212

Landrover

BMW

6602

0.3

6458

0.3

2.2

144

Infiniti

R-N

4746

0.2

4423

0.2

7.3

323

BMW

BMW

3243

0.2

0

0

inf

3243

Volkswagen

VW

853

0

1102

0.1

-22.6

-249

Honda Acura

Ind

121

0

96

0

26

25
 

Totals

2143856

100

1907661

100

12.4

236195

General Motors was the sector
leader in group terms as at the end of March, despite a fight back by Ford in March itself.
Another month like March would see the Ford Group back on top, but for the opening
quarter, GM Group boosted sales by 19.4% to 653,663 from 547,572, taking 30.5% of the market
from only 28.7% last year. Ford Group failed to match the market average, sales rising by
4.1% to 649,135 from 623,286, so market share dropped to 30.3% from 32.7%. DaimlerChrysler
also failed to match the average and saw sales rise by 3.4% to 490,943 from 474,745, with
market share easing to 22.9% from 24.9%.