It’s no secret that the full-sized truck market is the most hotly contested segment in the auto industry. Last year Ford sold 909,330 F-Series pickups in the United States alone. What makes that number even more impressive is that it is 323,749 trucks more than the Chevrolet Silverado which was the second highest selling truck in the United States.
| December | % | Calendar Year | % | |||||
| Brand Sales | Dec ‘18 | Dec ‘17 | Change | 2018 | 2017 | Change | ||
| Ford F-series | 87772 | 89385 | -1.80% | 909330 | 896764 | 1.40% | ||
| Chevrolet Silverado | Reports Quarterly | Reports Quarterly | Reports Quarterly | 585581 | 585964 | 0.00% | ||
| Ram Pickups | 60155 | 44907 | 34.00% | 536980 | 500723 | 7.00% | ||
| GMC Sierra | Reports Quarterly | Reports Quarterly | Reports Quarterly | 219554 | 217943 | 0.70% | ||
| Toyota Tundra | 11216 | 10886 | 3.00% | 118258 | 116285 | 1.70% | ||
| Nissan Titan | 4661 | 5582 | -16.50% | 50459 | 52924 | -4.70% | ||
Where things start to get interesting though, is the little talked about battle for second place. It is no secret that Ram wants the #2 spot in pickup truck sales and they have gotten close, real close. The two largest full sized truck markets are the United States and Canada and when you add in the Canadian sales numbers things really start to get interesting.
Since 2010 Ram has consistently outsold the Silverado in Canada, at times selling more than twice as many Ram pickups than Chevrolet sold Silverados. Ram has also made huge strides in the U.S market since 2009 which was the first full year of the 4th Generation Ram 1500 being on sale. In 2009 Ram sold 177,268 pickups in the U.S, compared to a record 536,980 pickups last year, a gain of 202.9%. On the other hand, Chevrolet sold 316,544 trucks in 2009 and 585,582 last year for a gain of 85%.
With the U.S and Canadian Markets accounted for Chevrolet sold 69% more trucks than Ram did back in 2009. By the end of last year, the Silverados sales lead has shrunk to just 4.17%, even with Ram taking a hard hit in the Canadian market in 2018. The Canadian market was down overall last year in part to rising interest rates and the economy which created a perfect storm for Ram sales to decline due to higher MSRPs for the 2019 Ram 1500s, lower incentives and lack of availability for most of the year.
| Ram Sales | Percentage difference to Silverado | Silverado Sales | Percentage difference to Ram | ||||||
| U.S | Canada | Total | U.S | Canada | Total | ||||
| 2009 | 177268 | 31408 | 208676 | -69.00% | 316544 | 36428 | 352972 | 69.00% | |
| 2010 | 199652 | 54267 | 253919 | -62.20% | 370135 | 41737 | 411872 | 62.20% | |
| 2011 | 244763 | 64297 | 309060 | -47.43% | 415130 | 40523 | 455653 | 47.43% | |
| 2012 | 312958 | 69255 | 382213 | -27.30% | 450609 | 35943 | 486552 | 27.30% | |
| 2013 | 355673 | 80248 | 435921 | -18.80% | 480414 | 37490 | 517904 | 18.80% | |
| 2014 | 439789 | 88521 | 528310 | -8.20% | 529755 | 41959 | 571714 | 8.20% | |
| 2015 | 451116 | 91195 | 542311 | -19.30% | 600544 | 46407 | 646951 | 19.30% | |
| 2016 | 487558 | 89666 | 577224 | -7.38% | 574876 | 44932 | 619808 | 7.38% | |
| 2017 | 500723 | 98465 | 599188 | -7.63% | 585864 | 59066 | 644930 | 7.63% | |
| 2018 | 536980 | 68120 | 605100 | -4.17% | 585582 | 44743 | 630325 | 4.17% |
Ram is breaking their half-ton sales records with the all-new 2019 Ram 1500 and Chevrolet’s all-new 2019 Silverado 1500 is now on lots, meaning we have an exciting year to look forward to. Ram is also introducing their 2019 Ram Heavy Duty trucks at the North American International Autoshow next Monday which is due to be on sale not long after. Chevrolet has also teased their 2020 Silverado HD which is rumored to be on sale in the latter half of this year.
Stay tuned to 5thGenRams as we track the sales race throughout the year and see if this is the year that Ram steals the second place title.
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