The pickup sales war

By TERRY BOX
Staff Writer tbox@dallasnews.com

ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT | TRUCKS

By TROY OXFORD
Staff Artist toxford@dallasnews.com

The arrival of the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra the rst new pickups from General Motors in seven years was expected to ignite a sales battle in the pickup segment as competitors put big incentives on their older trucks to make them more attractive. Pickup sales are up 19.4 percent this year, far more than the auto industry as a whole. So far, though, General Motors has been reluctant to place incentives on the new trucks, so most competitors have gotten more sales growth than the new Silverado and Sierra.
CHEVROLET SILVERADO GMC SIERRA FORD F-SERIES DODGE RAM TOYOTA TUNDRA NISSAN TITAN

U.S. sales
In September, many Chevrolet and GMC dealers had exhausted their supplies of discounted 2013-model Silverados and were still trying to build up an inventory of the new truck. Meanwhile, competitors were piling big incentives on their older trucks.

60,456

32,506 sales in September

28,145 13,438 9,071 962

Area sales
These are year-to-date sales in the four-county Dallas-Fort Worth area through September. Although Chevrolet has the newest truck in the segment, the Silverado has a long way to go to catch the dominant Ford F-series trucks. 12,840 5,747 sales through September 1,528 2,551 2,173 280

U.S. market share

An all-new pickup often increases a manufacturers market share and sometimes competitors shares as they mark down their older vehicles with incentives. This is a comparison of U.S. truck market share through September with the same period in 2012.

2013: 26.8% (unchanged) 2013: 9.6% 2012: 9.5%

2013: 38.2% 2012: 37.8% 2013: 18.7% 2012: 18.1%

2013: 5.8% 2012: 6.4%

2013: 0.9% 2012: 1.4%

2013 model $2,500 to $3,500 or 0% to 1.9% nancing

Incentives
When Chevrolet introduced its new Silverado about two months ago, other truck manufacturers rushed to put strong incentives on their pickups. Incentives typically change every few weeks, but these were available as of Oct. 31.

2014 model $1,000 cash or 2.9% to 4.9% nancing 2013 model $3,500 to $4,500 or 0% nancing

2014 model $1,000 or 0% to 4.9% nancing 2013 model $4,500 or 0% nancing

2014 Super Duty $1,000 to $1,500 or 0.9% to 4.9% nancing 2013 Super Duty $2,500 or 0% to 1.9% nancing 2013 F-150 $1,750-$2,250 or 0.9% to 4.9% nancing

2014 model $500 to $1,500 or 1.9% to 5.9% nancing 2013 model $500 to $3,000 or 0% to 1.9% nancing

2014 model $500 to $1,000 or 1.9% to 3.9% nancing 2013 select models $2,500 to $2,750 or 0% to 1.9% nancing

Supply
Despite the strong pickup market, increased manufacturing is causing inventories to swell on on car lots. Thats putting pressure on dealers to sell. Anything more than 60 days worth of vehicles can lead to higher incentives. Here are the supplies as of Oct. 1.

115 days 98 76 49 90 71

SOURCES: Automotive News, Freeman Auto Report, LMC Automotive

The bottom line

Its certainly a good time to buy a 2013 [Ford] F-150, a Ram or a Tundra. GM has got some catching up to do, and theyve got to give their dealers the [incentive] tools to be successful. The [pickup] market is denitely primed for strong sales. There are a few factors for [GM] to watch, but its probably too early to throw the ag on this and say theyre not achieving. I think a lot of this is temporary and well see demand back close to where it previously was in a few months. Whenever its been several years between models, pent-up demand is usually high and buyers will pay a premium for loaded models. That apparently has not occurred with the new Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. But these trucks are so important to GMs earnings that Im sure both will get some incentives or special nancing. Terry Box, automotive writer, The Dallas Morning News

Jerry Reynolds, former Ford dealer and host of Car Pro Show, WBAP-AM (820) AM and KRLD-AM (1080)

Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting, LMC Automotive