Forum Discussion
TomG2 wrote:
What do you folks get out of all these numbers? There are more Camry's sold than Cadillac's, but which one would you want to be driving past the burger joint on Saturday night? Does the fact that Ford Motor Company sold about ten percent more pickups than General Motors last month really matter? Just curious.
Only to the shareholders- What do you folks get out of all these numbers? There are more Camry's sold than Cadillac's, but which one would you want to be driving past the burger joint on Saturday night? Does the fact that Ford Motor Company sold about ten percent more pickups than General Motors last month really matter? Just curious.
Cummins12V98 wrote:
Flashman wrote:
August - a great month for trucks!
But what happened to Ford?
People are waiting for the 2016's, they will be out next month!
It was a joke.:R- 2016's will not be out next month. Ford is coming out with a 2015.
Flashman wrote:
August - a great month for trucks!
But what happened to Ford?
People are waiting for the 2016's, they will be out next month!- YTD vs 2013 are all pretty equal :W
jus2shy wrote:
In following the sales, I have to say that I'm impressed by the consumers. RAM has had the same outer shell since 2009/2010. So it isn't the exterior cosmetics. Apparently consumers realized that RAM has done a lot to stiffen its chassis and refined the interior quite a bit in order to drum up the sales which they did for the past year. Then there's the whole introduction of coil springs and factory air suspension in the 3/4 ton trucks and introduction of the Aisin AS69RC transmission behind the big "C". Last and least (in my book) is the pi$$!ng match between Ford and RAM over most torque. But I think that's a non-factor.
GM has apparently only refreshed the interior and exterior sheet metal and hasn't had quite the ramp-up success. Probably because consumers already understand that there isn't really all that much change with the GM aside from cosmetics, or had a higher expectation of upgrades and changes with the new body, therefore not as strong a reason to upgrade. If they had some revolutionary features (More effcient half-ton powertrains, more cogs in the half-ton transmissions, more features that HD buyers clamor for such as air suspension) similar to what RAM has done recently, I'm sure they will drum up more sales. However, I think GM is in an excellent position to shake-up the midsize market, if they get that diesel out there ASAP. Or maybe some other force-induced smaller engine suitable for truck duty to boost cruising efficiency. But like typical GM, they do tend to squander true business opportunities with poor execution from a great concept, leaving it up to other companies to capitalize on an idea. (GM was the first to develop a practical electric car, if anyone remembers the EV1, had just about the same range as a modern Nissan Leaf; Then there's the Aztec; then there's the Volt concept vs. production).
I'm sure that when Ford drops their new aluminum intensive super duty and makes some serious upgrades to the chassis, people will be swayed to purchase one. I recall sales perking up when the 6.7 Scorpion was first introduced at Ford.
That may sound good but the reality is all the trucks are very similar in capability. It comes down to who is more effective in their marketing and advertising campaigns. We can talk about nuisances of frame design and cosmetics (beauty is in the eye of the beholder)but we are a minority of the purchasing public. It's all about getting butts in the seats for test drives and closing the sale. I will tell you around these parts Chrysler is very good at their test drive promotions through the schools and non profits like YMCA's. They raise money for these entities and get numerous potential customers in their vehicles.- Wow... The Nissan Titan's sales are about equal to their payload rating of around 1200#. Coincidence? Maybe not :) Disclaimer: I owned a Titan and thought it was a great 1/2 ton. It's too bad it's such the "redheaded step child" of the market segment.
It's cool to see the Ram continuing to thrive (2nd disclaimer: I just bought one so of course I'm biased).
Taking a step back and looking at trucks as a whole it's a great time to be a consumer. The worst truck of today is a country mile ahead of the best of 10 years ago. And "best" can mean anything from efficiency, safety, power, convenience or whatever yard stick you want to use. rhagfo wrote:
ib516 wrote:
Flashman wrote:
August - a great month for trucks!
But what happened to Ford?
I'd bet it's a slight slump because new models are coming out soon with significant changes. Just a guess though.
They are in a year long slump!
Ford's own words -we will drop 50,000 in sales during the model(metal):-) change this year .
A gift .- In following the sales, I have to say that I'm impressed by the consumers. RAM has had the same outer shell since 2009/2010. So it isn't the exterior cosmetics. Apparently consumers realized that RAM has done a lot to stiffen its chassis and refined the interior quite a bit in order to drum up the sales which they did for the past year. Then there's the whole introduction of coil springs and factory air suspension in the 3/4 ton trucks and introduction of the Aisin AS69RC transmission behind the big "C". Last and least (in my book) is the pi$$!ng match between Ford and RAM over most torque. But I think that's a non-factor.
GM has apparently only refreshed the interior and exterior sheet metal and hasn't had quite the ramp-up success. Probably because consumers already understand that there isn't really all that much change with the GM aside from cosmetics, or had a higher expectation of upgrades and changes with the new body, therefore not as strong a reason to upgrade. If they had some revolutionary features (More effcient half-ton powertrains, more cogs in the half-ton transmissions, more features that HD buyers clamor for such as air suspension) similar to what RAM has done recently, I'm sure they will drum up more sales. However, I think GM is in an excellent position to shake-up the midsize market, if they get that diesel out there ASAP. Or maybe some other force-induced smaller engine suitable for truck duty to boost cruising efficiency. But like typical GM, they do tend to squander true business opportunities with poor execution from a great concept, leaving it up to other companies to capitalize on an idea. (GM was the first to develop a practical electric car, if anyone remembers the EV1, had just about the same range as a modern Nissan Leaf; Then there's the Aztec; then there's the Volt concept vs. production).
I'm sure that when Ford drops their new aluminum intensive super duty and makes some serious upgrades to the chassis, people will be swayed to purchase one. I recall sales perking up when the 6.7 Scorpion was first introduced at Ford.
