BEST-SELLING PICKUPS

Overall, pickup truck sales took a bit of a hit in April with a few exceptions. On the small pickup side, total sales dropped 11.3%, but a few models actually saw jumps in sales. Honda sold 4,652 Ridgelines in April, which is an impressive 38.2% jump from this time last year. Other models that saw positive increases in sales were the Nissan Frontier, Mazda B-Series pickup and the Toyota Tacoma. Surprisingly, however, the large pickup truck fared better than their smaller siblings despite gas prices taking a toll on consumers’ wallets.

Although the segment did drop 6.5% in April, growth was seen in some of the domestic offerings. Both the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra increased over last year’s sales, and growth of the Lincoln Mark LT also helped the large-pickup segment remain relatively steady.

THIS MATTERS TO YOU BECAUSE…

* Manufacturers and sellers of pickup truck specialty equipment need to keep abreast of current pickup truck sales trends to make inventory decisions and product development decisions (i.e. for which pickup truck models make sense to develop products for).

* Despite soaring gas prices and an increasing number of fuel-efficient vehicle alternatives, some pickup truck models are actually selling better than they did this time last year.

Source: SEMA Research and Information Center