Sales of domestic brand pickup trucks and SUVs in the United States plunged in September, according to numbers crunched by just-auto analyst Bill Cawthon.
Go deeper with GlobalData
By Cawthon’s reckoning, sales of US domestic brand ‘light’ trucks – both pickups and SUVs – were off 25% last month to 408,280 units compared with 544,484 in September ‘04.
Year to date? Much better. 4,333,382 so far – actually up 1.5%. But have September’s floods in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi – and the associated spike in fuel prices as offshore oil platforms closed, refineries shut and pipelines were switched off – started a steeper downward trend? Ask again in early January…
According to Cawthon, most of these so-called ‘light trucks’ are pretty hefty by European standards where one of Nissan’s new Spanish-built Nissan Navaras could be a handful in a shopping centre car park.
The only American-brand pickup on sale over here through manufacturer-franchised dealerships is the Thai-built Ford Ranger (completely different from the US model). Private importers bring in some American-made models and the odd privately imported Chevrolet-badged Isuzu D-Max, also made in Thailand, is also about.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataOtherwise pickups, are much smaller than their US cousins and Japanese, albeit almost all now Thai-made, with names like Mitsubishi L200 (Triton), Toyota Hilux and Mazda B-series.
DaimlerChrysler, which sells some Jeep SUVs in Europe, launches left-hand drive versions of the huge (by UK standards) Dodge Ram pickup here this month.
In contrast, the US light trucks class is for models with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) under 10,000 pounds for both personal and commercial use.
“They are classed as trucks under the very liberal government rules as to what constitutes a truck as opposed to a car,” notes Cawthon. Cases in point: the Chrysler PT Cruiser, Dodge Magnum wagon and Chrysler Pacifica crossover are all classed as a ‘trucks’.
Cawthon’s data shows that US brand ‘big trucks’ – large SUVs and pickups such as the Ford Explorer, Excursion and Expedition SUVs, Chevrolet’s Tahoe and Yukon, the Dodge Ram truck, et al – were off 31.8% to 281,228 units last month compared to 412,087 in September ’04. Year to date sales were down 3.4% to 3,027,782.
And large SUVs – think Cadillac Escalade, Dodge Durango, Jeep Grand Cherokee – fell 37.7% to 61,353 in September, down from 98,501 a year ago. Year so far, the news again is better – off 9.8% to 713, 462.
So Japanese SUV and truck brands reported rises, right? Er, yes and no.
While import brand light trucks were up 11.1% year to date to 391,494 units, the likes of Toyota’s Lexus GX470 and Land Cruiser, Nissan’s Armada and Infiniti QX56 SUVs and the Detroit-challenging Nissan Titan truck on which they’re based, BMW’s X5, sundry Land and Range Rovers and VW’s Touareg saw September sales down a modest 7.5% to 37,273 units.
The brands and model-by-model breakdowns are also interesting. See the tables below.
Graeme Roberts
 |
click table to enlarge |
 |
click table to enlarge |
 |
click table to enlarge |
