Which Pickups Had Their Best Sales Month Ever?
August 2018 sales numbers were quite good, especially for those manufacturers that report sales numbers monthly (sales numbers for GM pickups — Chevrolet and GMC — are now reported only quarterly).
The Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Titan/Titan XD and Ram had sales more than 30 percent better than in August 2017, and two of those four had their best month ever. Of course, if you recall, it was last August when Hurricane Harvey hit the southern U.S., which had a significant impact on sales.
As the rest of the auto industry prepares for a global economic contraction (including possible tariffs in Europe and China), the pickup truck sales are humming along as the U.S. economy continues to grow.
The Tacoma is benefiting from strong demand and clever production restructuring at Toyota's Texas and Mexico plants, with another plant in Mexico plant getting ready to come online as soon as 2019. Of course, Toyota is heavily motivated to get its three-plant strategy ready to better compete against the return of the Ford Ranger, expected to go on sale by the end of this year. Tacoma sales were up 35.3 percent month over month, with 23,534 registered sales.
Another big August winner was Nissan's Titan and Titan XD. Nissan lumps sales for the two trucks together just as Ram and Ford do (the Titan is a traditional half ton, while the XD is a bigger, heavier-duty model); together the Titans had one of their best-selling months in the last two years, with almost 4,700 full-size pickups sold. That's also an increase from August 2017 of 32.4 percent.
Finally, Ram was another big winner for August. While Ram's sales number combines half-ton, three-quarter-ton and one-ton models, you can bet the new 2019 Ram 1500 (now in dealerships) is having a significant sales impact, along with the discounted 2019 Ram 1500 Classic models also at dealerships now. In fact, we're told this was the best-selling month for Ram 1500 in its history; Ram Truck sold just a tick less than 50,000 units and is up 32.7 percent.
The rest of the pickup class, at least the ones that report sales monthly, has also done well, with the Ford F-Series selling more than 80,000 units (up 6.3 percent) and the Honda Ridgeline up 7 percent (2,792 units).
How this plays out for the rest of the year will be interesting to watch, with both Ram and GM delivering strong all-new half-ton pickups with significant improvements in ride, features and content to a hungry marketplace. Don't expect Ford, Nissan or Toyota to sit on their hands for too much longer either.
Cars.com photos by Mark Williams
Comments
Great time to buy a new pickup! We're closing in on the hot sales months of October and November. Should be exciting to see the Q3 figures in a few weeks.
Good for RAM! That's a nice looking truck.
What happened to all the fan boys who were picking on GMC-900's body stamping? Oh that's right, current fords have twice the waves as opposed to 900's.
I do body repair for living, and Fords (aluminum) have the waviest and weakest bodies of any truck!
Good for RAM
redbloodedxy | Sep 5, 2018
I saw a Laramie crew cab last weekend that would knock you out. Dark blue. Monster looks.
I do body repair for living, and Fords (aluminum) have the waviest and weakest bodies of any truck!
Posted by: Steve | Sep 5, 2018 2:28:58 PM
I followed an F-150 aluminum wonder truck through a drive through recently. I could not believe how badly aligned that the front edge of the door was to the fender. Must of been one of those early production models. Sad, very sad.
Is it me or is the ram just a larger version of the tacoma.
If you look at all the newer Ford trucks with aluminum body panels, they are not smooth. They are indeed wavy. They contract and expand more than steel so they warp back and forth per temperatures. Ford trucks will have the loosest bodies as the truck ages.
You are probably right! It's body is built with rivets and adhesive (glue) give it a few years and those body panels will get loose. If you even walk inside the bed of brand new ford, you will hear crackling sounds.
I hate the new Ford F-150.
@TNT, Same here! I hate aluminum F150s.
Me too.
give it a few years and those body panels will get loose. If you even walk inside the bed of brand new ford, you will hear crackling sounds.
Posted by: Steve | Sep 5, 2018 3:02:56 PM
These trucks have been out since 2015, I don't hear anything negative other than what is uttered from a clueless trvlls
I HATE rust, in ~ 4 plus years, let's see who's starting to rust out.
I hate corrosion! Look at those expy's tailgates all full of corrosion. Same corrosion start to hitting those trucks up north.
There is no such thing as military grade aluminum. Sad how many bought into this.
I've seen a rock that was thrown by a passing truck, hit a f250 door went through and was stopped by a plastic door panel. I work in a body shop and have no clue what I'm talking about! Yeah good one L M A O!
I saw a Laramie crew cab last weekend that would knock you out. Dark blue. Monster looks.
Posted by: papajim | Sep 5, 2018 2:35:45 PM
I got a good look at one up close this weekend.
In my opinion,
It needed a second look to determine it was the new body from the side view, and after walking around it twice, I feel this truck will need a major face lift by 2020. The exterior is blah. The front end has totally lost the big rig look and it will not age well.
Totally reminds me of a Dakota.
If you look at all the newer Ford trucks with aluminum body panels, they are not smooth. They are indeed wavy. They contract and expand more than steel so they warp back and forth per temperatures. Ford trucks will have the loosest bodies as the truck ages.
Posted by: uh huh | Sep 5, 2018 2:58:02 PM
The dash inside the truck can be just as wavy. I don't get why Ford hasn't done something to address the warped dash after 4 model years.
2018 F-150 XLT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXuxwMvCaeQ
2018 F-150 new on the lot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY8Afby8rC4
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1545286-2018-f150-xlt-dash-warping-and-deformed.html#post18053935
It needed a second look to determine it was the new body from the side view, and after walking around it twice, I feel this truck will need a major face lift by 2020. The exterior is blah. The front end has totally lost the big rig look and it will not age well.
Totally reminds me of a Dakota.
Posted by: andrwken | Sep 5, 2018 4:21:26 PM
Yeah I didn't get all the praise it got. It's like the designers spent all their time staring at hammers for inspiration for the interior but then quickly traced the general body shape for the outside. It completely lacks any character. I get that Ram was forced to remove the crosshair grill to more clearly separate them from Dodgem, just in case FCA decided to sell Ram or Dodge off in the future. But so far they haven't come up with a good looking replacement. The 2019 Ram is exterior is as bland as a rice cake.
"Finally, Ram was another big winner for August. While Ram's sales number combines half-ton, three-quarter-ton and one-ton models, you can bet the new 2019 Ram 1500 (now in dealerships) is having a significant sales impact, along with the discounted 2019 Ram 1500 Classic models also at dealerships now. In fact, we're told this was the best-selling month for Ram 1500 in its history; Ram Truck sold just a tick less than 50,000 units and is up 32.7 percent."
The big incentives that many Ram dealers have had to offer on the brand new 2019 Ram's must have helped to perk up sales. Ram sales were very stagnant until just recently. Just as Ram dealers everywhere started offering $5,000 to $10,000 off the new Ram 1500's. I guess it doesn't matter how much glitter is sprinkled on the interior, the price has to make sense and most Ram 1500 buyers expect the kind of Ram prices they have always paid.
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The dash inside the truck can be just as wavy. I don't get why Ford hasn't done something to address the warped dash after 4 model years.
2018 F-150 XLT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXuxwMvCaeQ
2018 F-150 new on the lot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY8Afby8rC4
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1545286-2018-f150-xlt-dash-warping-and-deformed.html#post18053935
Posted by: GransforHu | Sep 5, 2018 4:21:59 PM
Yeah I've seen some that were absolutely awful. Other trucks didn't have any warping. Still seems surprisingly common. It would be sickening to have a dash that looks 15 years old after just a few thousand miles. What's taking Ford so long to do something about this?
I work in a body shop and have no clue what I'm talking about! Yeah good one L M A O!
Posted by: Steve | Sep 5, 2018 4:02:40 PM
Take it easy on sniffing too much bondo and poly-primer, it made you stvpid.
totally reminds me of a Dakota.
Posted by: andrwken | Sep 5, 2018
We'll know if you're right in a few months.
I got the last Ram 1500 sale for my dealer on Friday. I felt bed for keeping them late but they were glad to get the sale.
BA, Frank and myself happen to love aluminum bodied trucks and think aluminum should be the metal of choice used inside the bed of the truck. The H#ll with steel!!!
I won't buy a Ford for the sole reason of the wavy sheet metal. Looks cheap and not what you should expect on a 60K or even a 30K vehicle.
Is it me or is the ram just a larger version of the tacoma.
Posted by: uh huh | Sep 5, 2018
You have to be tripping on the Grateful Dead road manager's personal LSD stash to think the RAM 1500 looks like a Tacoma. What? The Tacoma is a joke compared to the RAM. Go all the way back to 2009.
There has never been any grade of Tacoma that could sit in the same driveup lane at Burger King with a RAM.
Sorry dude. Try turning the lights down, take some vitamin C, listen to soft music. You'll feel better in the morning.
Another site reports GM sales down 10%.
Another site reports GM sales down 10%.
Posted by: just the truth | Sep 5, 2018
Ten percent what? Revenues? Number of cars? Number of trucks?
Help a fella out
All these attacks on the best selling Ford trucks tells me Ford must be doing something good. The GM Astroturf posters never tell us what they like about their trucks, only that they dislike Ford. I guess that's what 40 years of frustration will do to you.
Down 10% in sales. According to them GM is trying to raise average transaction price which has cut into sales. That would fit with Ford and Ram sales going up. But you can read anything on the internet. October sales should reveal the truth.
I'll try again. Sales. Measured in dollars? Measured in the total number of cars/trucks sold? Just the number of trucks?
I am proud that a major part of F-Series’ ongoing sales success is high-strength, military-grade aluminum alloy. Reduces weight, top safety, best-in-class work capability and fuel efficiency - gas and diesel!
Oh and the new Ford trucks are selling through Aug the best they have sold in 13 years!
#BuiltFordTough
@Chris
Don't be a fool. there is no such thing as "military-grade" aluminum. No more than there is any such thing as "surgical" stainless steel. The guys who dream up these names make big bucks to mislead people such as yourself.
Sales as in number of vehicles sold.
Military grade aluminum is like professional grade trucks it just a name.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-04/gm-is-said-to-report-steep-sales-drop-on-dialed-back-discounts
Silverado down 23 percent
"GM lowered incentive spending during the month by more than $800 a vehicle on average compared with August of last year. Its discounts also were down more than $200 from July, to $4,146 a vehicle, according to data from J.D. Power. Spending averaged $5,097 a vehicle at Ford and $4,760 for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV."
Wow who would have thought that piling 15 grand on the hood of those brand new 2018 F-150's would drive Ford's average incentive spending up so much.
"Ford brand sales were up 4.2 percent in August due in part to strong fleet sales."
Ford, king of the low-margin fleet sales. If you run out of fools to buy your product, just start building stripped out XL's and sell them to the government. F-150 fleet sales to commercial buyers is up 69%. With all the fleet sales, ATP's for the F-150 were only a little over $42,000. A year ago F-150 ATP's were up around $45-47k between January and June. Ouch that's a big drop since then. A whole new line of engines, inflated towing and payload numbers, a redesigned front end, and ATP's are still slipping more and more. Ford's Europe and China operations are either losing money or barely breaking even. Is it any wonder they're not struggling to make a profit. What happened to the military-grade aluminum game changer?
Ford stock price Sept. 5, 2014: $17.14
Ford stock price 4 years later: $9.49
45% of the stock's value lost since the game changing, dash warping, bed cracking, oil leaking military-grade wonder truck hit the market.
LOL maybe GM should just blame the sales drop on "frame shortages" like Ford did when the 2015 F-150 was first ramping up. Oh wait, Ford fan girls on here also blamed the slow sales on the truck plants "needing to retool and ramp up production". I guess GM doesn't get affected by that like Ford does, so it's only a valid reason for a sales drop when Ford changes to a new truck platform.
@beebe
your magazine article might be right, but they can only cite unnamed sources.
If GM chose to support higher transaction prices (instead of total trucks sold) they've made a business decision designed to please their shareholders, something that Ford management has totally forgotten how to do.
As of today Ford's stock is selling for about 55% of its five year high price in 2014. Since 2014 Ford's graph looks like a ski slope.
Something you may have missed is that GM is retooling for the 2019 models, something Ford won't have to do. Their 2019 model is the same as their 2018.
RAM and GM each have fresh product to sell during the next 4 months. Good luck to your friends at Ford.
I guess GM doesn't get affected by that like Ford does, so it's only a valid reason for a sales drop when Ford changes to a new truck platform.
@Clint
Ford is slashing prices for a reason. North America is the only one of Ford's 5 global markets where they aren't bleeding cash. Ford's North American profits are flat. Without vigorous discounting between now and December 31, Ford will crash.
Their horizon for profitability is being pushed out to 2021 or 2022. This is making their most faithful shareholders very nervous.
Ford is slashing prices for a reason. North America is the only one of Ford's 5 global markets where they aren't bleeding cash. Ford's North American profits are flat. Without vigorous discounting between now and December 31, Ford will crash.
Their horizon for profitability is being pushed out to 2021 or 2022. This is making their most faithful shareholders very nervous.
Posted by: papajim | Sep 6, 2018 12:29:11 AM
Ford is indeed hurting. They lost $483 million in China in just one quarter. They lost $73 million in Europe in just one quarter. Costs of manufacturing are up $300 million in the US due to tariffs and will cut $600 million from their bottom line by the end of the year. Ford is selling more trucks than ever yet their financial position has only deteriorated. They Ranger is late, the Bronco is still over a year away, the rest of their CUV lineup is very aged, their sedan sales have collapsed, and their material costs are climbing. Their fullsize sales are at record levels yet their stock value has been in a slide for 4 years now. Hackett thinks he can cut his way to profit, including cutting a gear out of their version of GM's 9-speed and slashing the number of possible configurations for their vehicles. Judging by the current fit & finish of the F-150, that's a concerning proposition. One of Ford's biggest selling point was that you could get a vehicle nearly tailor-made for your own wants and needs. Will that cost them sales in the future?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-04/gm-is-said-to-report-steep-sales-drop-on-dialed-back-discounts
Silverado down 23 percent
Posted by: beebe | Sep 5, 2018 10:54:57 PM
I am baffled by this. My friend has a Ford and it's junk! BAM Take that! Time for papa and I to get defensive. Later dudes....
You fools should know this is why GM started reporting quarterly. Now they will adjust incentives in September to give those ugly Silverados away to offset dismal August results to fool our stock holders. SUCKERS!!
FORD IS THE BEST AND GM AND RAM SUCK!!! HAHAHAHAHA
FORD IS THE ONLY MANUFACTURER WITH MILITARY GRADE ALUMINUM!!! IT IS BATTLE TESTED AND CHINGON APPROVED!!!
DON'T LISTEN TO ANYTHING MY EX-WIFE OR THE GM AND RAM SHILLS SAY.
HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA HAHAHAAHAHAHAHA
"GM lowered incentive spending during the month by more than $800 a vehicle on average compared with August of last year. Its discounts also were down more than $200 from July, to $4,146 a vehicle, according to data from J.D. Power. Spending averaged $5,097 a vehicle at Ford and $4,760 for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV."
Wow who would have thought that piling 15 grand on the hood of those brand new 2018 F-150's would drive Ford's average incentive spending up so much.
"Ford brand sales were up 4.2 percent in August due in part to strong fleet sales."
Ford, king of the low-margin fleet sales. If you run out of fools to buy your product, just start building stripped out XL's and sell them to the government. F-150 fleet sales to commercial buyers is up 69%. With all the fleet sales, ATP's for the F-150 were only a little over $42,000. A year ago F-150 ATP's were up around $45-47k between January and June. Ouch that's a big drop since then. A whole new line of engines, inflated towing and payload numbers, a redesigned front end, and ATP's are still slipping more and more. Ford's Europe and China operations are either losing money or barely breaking even. Is it any wonder they're not struggling to make a profit. What happened to the military-grade aluminum game changer?
Ford stock price Sept. 5, 2014: $17.14
Ford stock price 4 years later: $9.49
45% of the stock's value lost since the game changing, dash warping, bed cracking, oil leaking military-grade wonder truck hit the market.
Posted by: Mike Jones | Sep 5, 2018 11:50:08 PM
Why do all the Ford haters always cite the fleet sales numbers and are so very well versed in that knowledge. Why dont you other-brand kool aid drinkers impress me and cite what the fleet sales numbers (that must be close to zero since you all always rag on Fords high number) are for you're favorite brand?? Or are you blind shills conveniently clueless about your favorite brand???
But the most halarious whining coming from this guy is his rant about the F-150 and his percieved issues (do you own one?) yet with all that whining he must get more frustrated because the F-series has easily outsold the crappy vibrating & shaking, thin water-like painted, horrible clunk trans shifting, lame "fuel saving tech" that bogs/lags combined gm offerings. LMFAO!
Military grade aluminum is like professional grade trucks it just a name.
Posted by: FrankinFlorida | Sep 5, 2018 10:07:57 PM
That, and, "the longest pickups on the road."
Hilarious.
These trucks have been out since 2015, I don't hear anything negative other than what is uttered from a clueless trvlls
Posted by: That Guy Frank | Sep 5, 2018 3:35:20 PM
That's because you have selective hearing like most rabid fanboys do. Keep drinking the aluminum laced Kool-Aid Frankie!!! lol
That's because you have selective hearing like most rabid fanboys do. Keep drinking the aluminum laced Kool-Aid Frankie!!! lol
Posted by: johnny does brother | Sep 6, 2018 10:02:39 AM
Damn, you doing your brother now. Wow.
papa says no military grade, but loves the professional grade GM spits, thats funny right there. In all seriousness, it is military grade, and not wavey. All the ones I drive at work are fine. usually the complainers are the followers, now follow the leader!
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