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Dealers say August sales reflect pent-up demand; lower gas prices help
By G. Chambers Williams III
San Antonio Express-News
Published on Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008
The pickup truck market, believed to be near death as recently as July, showed a remarkable rebound in August as falling gasoline prices and hefty incentives brought once reluctant buyers back into dealer showrooms.
It was such a remarkable turnaround that the Chevrolet Silverado ended up as the nation's best-selling vehicle for the month, unseating the Honda Civic that had become the consumers' favorite as gasoline spiked to $4 a gallon or more.
Silverado sales were up 69 percent over July, and Sierra sales increased 75 percent, General Motors reported.
Sales of the Ford F-150, which had been the nation's best-selling vehicle for 22 years until it ceded that spot to the Civic in May, were strong enough to make it the fourth-best-selling vehicle for August, giving Ford some encouragement as it prepares to introduce the next generation of the pickup in November.
Dodge Ram sales were up 16 percent in August over July, but actually have doubled in the past 60 days, Chrysler reported.
As robust as pickup sales were in August, some analysts are pessimistic about whether the revival can be sustained or whether pickups ever will regain their lofty position as the favorite new vehicles of American consumers.
''This shows that there are still a lot of people who want trucks,'' said Jim Hall, owner of the Michigan-based automotive consulting firm 2953 Analytics.
''But a key to this success is that pickups are available for a song. Those incentives can pay for a lot of gas, even at $4 a gallon. The incentives in conjunction with fuel prices going down some are helping.''
Mostly gone, at least for now, are the so-called ''casual truckers,'' people with no real need for pickups but who had been buying them anyway mostly for personal transportation, analysts said.
The big spike in pickup sales last month mainly came from the U.S. ''Big Three,'' whose trucks have long been the staples of the true truckers — people who need these vehicles for their work and their lifestyles.
Incentives were high in August, and most of them have continued through September — including GM's ''Employee pricing for everyone'' promotion, which began in mid-August.
That sale, combined with cash rebates as high as $5,000 on Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, have cut $10,000 or more off the sticker prices of some of these trucks.
Trucks are selling well, but it's still a buyer's market, Chevrolet dealers report. The Silverado is their best-seller right now.
The same trend holds true for GMC dealers, who posted one of their best sales months of the year in August — primarily the result of robust sales of the full-size Sierra.
GMC dealers say the Sierras are their best-sellers, and they report seeing more optimism among consumers than there was two or three months ago.
With the employee pricing and rebate, a Sierra 3500 heavy-duty pickup with a sticker price of just more than $50,000 now is priced under $39,000.
Dealers say that there apparently has been a pent-up demand for pickups, caused by the price of fuel and the general state of the economy, but some of that was unleashed in August.
Chevy says sales of the Tahoe, Suburban and TrailBlazer SUVs also picked up in August. Dodge dealers reported robust August sales of the 2008 Ram, which is being discounted with a redesigned 2009 model coming.
The pickup truck market, believed to be near death as recently as July, showed a remarkable rebound in August as falling gasoline prices and hefty incentives brought once reluctant buyers back into dealer showrooms.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 05:29 AM, 09/23/2008
Wow!!! What a deal. A $20,000 truck for $39,000 dollars. Wait till they go for a trade when gas is $8.00.
