I'm guessing that would be in large part due to the stimulus dollars that most of the folks in here probably didn't support.

Interesting statistics. It would be helpful to describe what the class 1 to 8 trucks are in the article (I know I can go to Wikipedia, but some context in the article would be nice).

Everyone has been in "repair" mode instead of "replace" mode for so long, my guess is the old rigs are getting too expensive to repair. Buying new will help stimulate the economy, so I hope we can sustain the sales increases.

I see a Dodge and I see a Ford. A Ram head and a Blue Oval. Now where's the Chevy and the Bowtie??

Chevrolet needs to ditch that low frame and IFS. Get those frames straightened out again and get a SFA back under the chassis like they always were until the 400's. I've watched farmers go from nothing but Chevy trucks to nothing but Super Duty's over the last 10-15 years. Those low frames and IFS were a deal killer. Frames get caught up in field ruts when they are so low to the ground. The IFS is simply not as sturdy as a beam axle and is frowned upon. Farmers are making big dollars right now. Ford is selling every King Ranch Super Duty they can get in. Those should be loaded Silverado's.

Where's Chevy? According to the last article, Chevy isn't interested in that type of truck anymore. They are into little boy trucks like the Colorado. Good luck with that.

Hey S..T for brains brianhawn, GM is not going to a SFA on their 3.4 and 1 ton vehicles so shut your big yap and buy something else. These trucks above are MEDIUM DUTY TRUCKS YOU S..T for brains.

GM is having NO TROUBLE WHAT SO EVER SELLING THEIR 3/4 TON or 1 TON trucks with their independent front suspension. God this is getting fricking old and I am getting sick and tired of the totally stupid and ignorant posters on this board. Stick your SFA up your you know what!

Everyone has been in "repair" mode instead of "replace" mode for so long, my guess is the old rigs are getting too expensive to repair. Buying new will help stimulate the economy, so I hope we can sustain the sales increases.

Posted by: Onug | Jan 21, 2012 10:32:40 AM

I def agree w/ that. Not that the economy is by any means good now but since its seen an upturn a little especially in construction these companies that have been holding on to truck longer than normal are finally replacing just my guess

We have been building every engine we can and actually offered discounts on the cumins option, just to fill orders. Business is booming.
@brian hawn- GM has lots of customers who want nothing to do with climbing in and out of too-tall Fords and Rams. The product planners over there aren't completely clueless. GM got out of the medium duty business a few years ago, because it was costing them money. Not everyone needs to be in every segment.
I'm surprised about how few class 7 trucks make up the mix.

Wow, that wards article has a lot of numbers. Might have benefitted from a graph. Surprising, too how whole segments shrink if a model is discontinued.

Dodge/Ram has been offereing a free Cummins on HD trucks in Canada for over a year now. I don't know if that applies to the 4500+ chassis models or not.

I have no issue with a Cummins powered Ram (I have an 03' myself) but I'm fairly sure a lot of recent Cummins truck sales in Canada have been to people that don't need a diesel but got it because it was a free option with a value of $9,350CD right off the top before even negotiating. Just means more commuters using them to go to their office in the morning.

I'd be in the market for a Hemi HD with 4.10's if I was to buy right now and I'd be a little pissed at a guy getting the Cummins for the same price as a Hemi truck. Dodge is obviously doing this by design so they can move more Cummins product.

My question is what is that Cummins Ram worth once you drive it off the lot? Cummins used to be a key resale feature but the used market for them will devalue accordingly.

Fleet owners were up against California's January 1st, 2012 deadline to replace banned '96 thru '99 diesel rigs (26,000 lbs GVWR or greater) with 2010 or newer diesels if they are a California business or do business in the state. MY2000 thru 2009 diesel rigs (14,000 lbs GVWR and up) will banned from California on a staggered schedule.

@Incognito Bob, I agree with you. Everybody complaining about the Silverado/Sierra and how they have crappy interiors, low hanging frames and the lack of a SFA is really getting old.

I agree with Bob, too. The constant GM bashing from on here never stops.

GM sells more trucks than Ford period. If GM trucks weren't good people wouldn't be buying so many trucks. And by GM I mean Chevy and GMC! So take your GM bashing to some other post and let it be written, so let it be done!

Interesting. When I was travelling through the US on a Coach trip, a few of the other Aussies were saying "where are the heavy trucks?'. Looking at those statisics(It appears companies are restocking their inventories after the GFC), we would have more than twice the number of what you would call Class 6-8 Trucks if scaled up to US Numbers . As a result of putting more and produce into Trucks instead of trains, that is going to increase. Still there is no upper limit like you have in the US and there are a lot of "cars" rated just below 10,000lbs here.

Sue Mead(did Dakar Rally in Raptor) did a report on the Sydney Motor Show and noticed the "Huge truck Market" referrng to the number of Utes sold in Australia.

http://www.trucktrend.com/autoshows/coverage/163_1106_australian_international_motor_show/index.html
Yes it is a different market here.

@MAX,

You are totally wrong !!

Its the Ketstone XL pipeline !!!

They need bigger trucks to move pipe...20,000-30,000+direct and indirect jobs you need trucks !!

They are starting to build it from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast,and under the radar in the Dakota's soon..that one awful state of Nebraska they decided to stall it until the next election is over,though Nebraska already has thousands of miles of lesser quality pipe through the so-called sensitive land they are complaining about !

Funny,people push electric vehicles but..with cold weather in places you have to plug in your gas powered car for its block heater,the cities are crying there is not enough electricity to support all these cars with block heaters (not everyone has one)..one would imagine what would happen if all vehicles were electric and that more people would be plugging in vehicles....we would all be walking..and have no electricity in our house as this current President said he will sky rocket electricity rates under his plan !!

@Robert T Sinclair AKA BOB.

You're aliases are getting really pathtic and far to obvious.

It's interesting to me that Class 7 trucks were the only trucks to see a decline, as that's the only class of truck we never owned.

I guess we never saw much of a point, as a Class 6 truck is the highest you can go without a CDL and then class 8 is the highest class in total. So, if we were already buying a truck that required a CDL, we would just skip 7 and go right to class 8. Especially since 7 and 8 often share the same chassis and have little price difference.

Is there any particular reason to own a Class 7 truck that I'm missing? Besides the obvious that someone just doesn't need the extra capacity?

@ BOB, We all know you use multiple names. So very sorry you have too. You need help. I can't imagine being so reliant on a web site or many web sites that it becomes your life. You know there are better things to do. I don't know what else to say except you need to just stop it. I really love this site but your comments are useless. Take your own advice and say if you don't like it, buy something else. Enough is enough. Just stop it PLEASE!!

Nate - There is more than one Bob that posts here. I am not responsible for their message.

Keith - What did you just say? It doesn't matter what you say. Know your role and shut your mouth!

Another GM article, another ford girly men hating GM posts. You see, the ford girly men on this site are so obsessed with GM and bashing GM, they can't help themselves. Doesn't matter what the subject is, if it is anything to do with GM, they come out and droves and bash GM with baseless and false statments. These ford girly men must be scratching their balls and wondering how in the hec GM be increasing their market share with these old trucks???

How many times have you read that GM'S intereiors are bad or squeaks and rattles yada yada yada. The ford girly men go on to bash GM'S engines, their sheet metal you name it they will say something bad about it. Do GM fans say these things about ford or dodge? No. GM fans don't have to put down ford or dodge to make themselves feel better about themselves. I make fun of the ford girly man step but I have said nothing but positive things about fords overall.

But the facts are GM will have CLASS LEADING half tons next year and class leading MID SIZE trucks very soon.

Screw you bob and the cheeby you had to push to get here!!

For every post that I read that says the current trucks are "junk", well the public must really like junk because they are selling almost as much of GM'S trucks as ford is with their much newer engines and platform.

What ever GM comes out with next year you can bet it will be the standard in the class and all other trucks will be measured against it for years to come. I have spoken and it will be done.

LMAO! This is hilarious!

@ DaveB,

No the price they give off the sale doesnt effect resale value.

For example,I bought a 2008 Ram SLT,more loaded than a Big Horn.. they advertised them as the Ram Jam special in the papers,I bought it in April 2008 for $31,500 the truck was basically a Larmie,same options ect,leather,sunroof,all chrome trim ect...Then 1 year later the same truck with more than 40,000 k were going from $35,000-$38,000 !

I sold the truck for $5000 less than I bought it for 3 years earlier with 76,000 on it (bought a 2011 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Q.C )

The sale they have comes and goes,every few months it comes back.They still are trying to beat the cheaper Ford and GM trucks which are still thousands less than the superior Dodge RAM !

Does anyone else think that maybe the reason why sales of trucks over 10K GVWR are up is because they keep increasing the GVWR of pickups? Look at 1-ton SRW CCLB 4x4 diesels Ram 3500: 10,100. Silverado/Sierra 3500: 11,400. F350: 11,600. Not too long ago, all of these trucks would have been 9,900 lbs. Not saying that accounts for all of it, but it probably is having some impact on sales numbers.

@Bob, (all of them and his 'other' names), you need to grow up man. The good folks here that bring up things like interiors, low frames or sfa's are not GM haters. I'm surely not. In fact, if I hated them I wouldn't bother to comment. I love GM and more importantly Chevrolet trucks. And as such why would I want to see them at the bottom of the pack? There's things that they need to address plain and simple.

Brian - Buy yourself a clue. There is more than one Bob. There are many Bobs that try to get you ford girly men all upset. I may have to change my name again.

But listen. GM is not going back to SFA just becuase you want it. GM has a premium LTZ interior. Their trucks ride better and are just fine for the job they are supposed to do. These things have already been addressed. I have told you a million times. The new trucks are coming.

Does anybody know when the 2014 Chevy Silverado is debuting? Maybe they will wait for the State Fair of TX?

Breaking News.

The GMC Granite concept is dead.

@'Detroit'Bob. Interesting. And I'm sure all of the Bob's appreciate your humble response on their behalf.

As for the facts. I'm not a Ford man. I drive Chevy trucks. Chevy indeed offers an LTZ. I have one. It is not in any way shape or form comparable to the Platinum or King Ranch interior packages that Ford offers. As far as I'm concerned the LTZ with cloth should be the base trim. I'd also invite you to stop by our John Deere tractor works sometime and explain to our engineers why in fact IFS is better on a heavy duty truck. Please do. Our lots are Loaded with trucks driven by trucking men. If GM doesn't want to use a solid axle, fine. Don't expect to ever take over sales from Ford or Dodge however. Nor should Chevrolet expect to gain any credibility from the HD truck crowd. They will not. If you care so much for GM you should Want them to address their deficiencies. I've watched decades of loyal Chevy truck drivers switch to Ford over the last 10 years. John Deere Country was Chevy Country since I was a little kid. Now John Deere Country is Ford Country. 2 reasons are to blame,. 1) Ford's look nicer than Chevy's bodywise and have high dollar interiors that Chevrolet's do not compete with. 2) Concerning the 2500's and up, it's the same 2 reasons Combined with the lack of a SFA and low frame height. These same guys who bought Chevy trucks and Chevy cars are now buying Ford cars along with their Ford trucks. And I'm not talking cheap models. We spend money in these parts for top trims. I'd bet 90% of the new Ford's are King Ranch or Platinums. Those should be Silverado's instead. GM loses twice over Chevrolet not competing. If you care or are an investor, you'd want this fixed and Fast.

Brian - You might not be a ford girly man but you are definitely sounding like one of those Chevy girly men who always complains about Chevy products.

Take a look at this.

Chevrolet Silverado - Redesigned interiors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLUyAZS9vzM

I tell you, Brian I like this interior. I don't think I have ever seen a truck with this nice of an interior. This is a true truck interior. It's got large controls and big grab handles that you can use even if you've got gloves on. And they give you a choice with their premium LTZ interior. Check it out. There is a lot of room in here. Chevy has really raised the bar and I can't wait to see what the 2014 Chevy brings!

@'Bob'. I'm fully aware of the base interior. I drove one when I bought my Silverado and hated it. It was and is a sea of horribly cheap plastic and the design was a good decade outdated when it arrived in 07. That interior was exactly why I bought the LTZ instead. I expect more out of Chevy trucks. I'm happy you like it. I'm of the opinion though that the LTZ should have been the standard dash and interior with cloth seats being the base model. They should have then had a Scottsdale or other named interior option to equal or Better that of the King Ranch.

We can agree on one thing, I too look forward to the next generation of Chevy trucks.

Bob,
The big grab handles are an abonimation. Do you have new any info on the new Chevy interiors? Because the rest of the info in that video is outdated.

@Canadian- the 08 Ram was unique, as they were fire selling them before the new model year. Once supply dried up, people actually sold Rams with 20k for what they paid a year before. Flooding the market with anything pulls down the value of the rest. If I can buy a 50k truck for 40k, why would I consider getting a used one, u.less it was even cheaper.
@paul810- there might be differences in licensing or insurance costs. There are also definite fuel savings to be had.

Bob is a loser!!!!

Breaking News. The GMC Granite concept is dead.

Good. I didn't need to see yet another powder puff Denali bling mobile crowding up the roads here. I'd like to say good riddance to that entire redundant GMC brand. It still floors me to no end that the good American taxpayer who is Already cash strapped has to subsidize such a thing. Nobody and I mean Nobody Needs 2 truck lines!! Just make the Chevrolet's Nicer so more people would like them and be done with it. GM should be hung from the rafters for this. And for the record I support saving GM but I only support that which is necessary. Chevrolet and Cadillac I fully support. Buick is tied to China so I support it as well. GMC was only kept to sell higher trim Chevy trucks. I absolutely will never support that. Chevrolet should already sell high trim trucks like Ford and Ram do. There's no need to go any higher with Chevrolet than what Ford already offers and as such GMC should not have continued to exist. Yet another prime example of government waste. Never will I own Anything that says 'GMC' on it.

@Michigan Bob: Yeah, that interior stuff is not new at all. You might like it, but it's definetly not new. As far easy to use controls, I believe thats Tundras line? I do know new Rams have the under front middle seat storage, and the double glove box, as Tundra does as well. Why is it GM puts the NAVIGATION so low? You have to look further away from the road then A Ram, Toyota, Ford, in that order? Ram and Ford give the driver the most imfo on the gauges, just facts. Hey Bob, it was good beating Michigan in the ballgame yesterday! Go Arkansas!

I agree with you Ron. The feds got swindled by GM. It's absolutely sickening and wrong to me as well. Nor is it just a few guys on here who feel that way. There's many good taxpaying American's who build pumps right along side of me that refuse to own a GMC as well now. Those three letters stand for everything that's wrong with this country.

Yeah I bought two of those semis for my company the govt wanted newer trucks so we had to buy new fleet of semis international and 37 kenworth

@BrianHawn - great points. There are those that rather insult and assault than accept the fact that there are things that need to be fixed with a particular brand.
I chose a Ford because everything that I looked at (features, price, reliability data, truck tests etc) put it in 1st or close to it.
Why buy a fifth place truck?
Chevy - Semper Quinto Positus "always in 5th place".
I'd consider a Chevy or GM truck if they met my criteria and/or expectations. I'm looking foreward to the next generation of trucks.
@Mr Knowitall - agreed. Deep discounts affect resale. I chose to buy a new truck because discounts put the new truck head to head with 2 - 5 year old trucks. No brainer really. That is one of the reasons Toyota's have excellent resale. They don't have the same deep discounts (at least in Canada).

@Lou, I agree with you. And for that matter Brian and even Ron as well. Chevrolet really needs to hit the ball out of the ballpark with this next Silverado. I too love Chevy trucks but haven't bought one in 10 years. It's same old reasons repeated on here all the time. I had no idea there was that many people out there that felt like me. Somewhat betrayed by GM for the sake of GMC first and foremost. And really, even if Chevrolet trucks were on a GMC level currently it still wouldn't cut it. Ford's and Ram's are just plain nicer. Better looks and better interiors. People can point to GM's bankruptcy all they want but really, the GMT900 came out in the last part of 06 so it Had to have been in the works since 03 at the latest. The 07 Silverado never compared to what Ford offered in 04 interior wise or body design wise. It's almost like GM didn't care or something?

When shopping for a truck to tow my 4 horse trailer, and my tractor, I drove all big three.
Yep! "Government Motors Corp" got the last place!
Poor seating, poor dash and bad access for a short driver. ( I am only 5'6", and my wife is only 5'2")

The Ford was not as nice of a power range, and with the recent problems of Ford Diesels in the early "2000's, I went with the Ram, 3500, with the Cummins power, you NEVER have to worry about the comfort and reliability of the motor.

I know, I know, the Ford has more HP, but it is also a fuel hog, and the addition of urea,( Hog Pee) to the intake is not as convenient. The interior of the Ram was nicer for us, and it did not squeek like the GMC we drove, and was not as futuristic as the Ford. I am also a lover of the styling which has a bases in the 1994 change that Ram did. ( Yeah, I also have a 97 gasser I drive as a daily driver!)

What's with all these haters?? GM is def better and I agree with Bob :)