Pickup trucks are those vehicles used primarily as work but not anymore. It could have happened until the 1950s when consumers used to buy pickups because they needed to use them in work, now they buy them because they love them. The pickup truck is now the top-selling vehicle in the United States.
Domestically, the three top-selling vehicles for the month of January are all trucks. The Ford Motor Co. F-Series took the number one spot, with nearly 60,000 vehicles sold last month. Chevrolet Silverado from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) sold 35,553 vehicles and the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) Dodge Ram sold 33,769 vehicles. The next highest selling vehicle only moved around 29,000 for the month. Perhaps the pickup segment is one of the most profitable within the automotive industry. In particular this segment has given carmakers room to offer deals and motivation to make market share grabs.
At the same time, fierce brand loyalty among truck owners means that automakers have to offer bigger deals to entice them to switch models. The rise in incentive activity also reflects the U.S. auto market slowing down following a seven-year streak of expansion. Although GM now has a top-selling vehicle, the company lost sales ground in 2016. Deliveries dropped 4.3% for the Silverado and 1.1% for the Sierra last year. The F-Series continued to prosper and gained 5.2% to seal a 35th straight year as the top-selling vehicle line in the United States, and Ram pickup sales rose 8.7%.
