Ready for rumble over lucrative pick-up trucks

The battle for profits from sales of large pick-up trucks is intensifying among the Detroit Three automakers as sales of small cars in the United States shrivel. For decades Ford Motor Co has had the single best-selling truck brand in its F-Series trucks. General Motors Co’s Chevrolet brand was a solid number 2, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s Ram brand was a distant third.
Now, that hierarchy may be in flux. Sales figures for December and the fourth quarter show FCA’s Ram brand tied with GM’s Chevy brand for the number 2 spot during the fourth quarter, as sales of the redesigned Ram pick-up surged, fuelled in part by demand for an optional 12-inch dashboard screen.
Chevy not long ago held second place to Ford by a wide margin. GM executives said they are bullish on their new GMC and Chevy trucks for 2019.
“There’s no doubt this segment (pick-up trucks) is one of the epicentres of the auto wars,” said Sandor Piszar, director of marketing for Chevrolet at GM. “It’s been that way forever and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
On Wall Street, investors give electric car leader Tesla Inc a higher valuation than any of the Detroit automakers. But in the nation’s heartland, big pick-ups remain far more popular and profitable than any electric car — and most other consumer vehicles of any kind.
Large pick-ups generate at least $17,000 a vehicle in pretax profit for GM, the company has indicated in disclosures to investors. By contrast, many Detroit Three sedans are so unprofitable, their manufacturers have decided not to build them anymore.
Sustaining sales and pricing in the large-pick-up segment will be critical in a year when most forecasters expect overall US car and light truck sales to fall.
Ford’s US sales chief, Mark LaNeve, called the F Series “the backbone of our franchise,” during a conference call, and added the “segment will continue to be strong, but hotly contested” in 2019.
Automakers are banking on pickup truck sales to stay strong even if US interest rates continue to rise. Rising interest rates translate into higher monthly car payments and are expected to deter some buyers in 2019.
GM has said 27 per cent of Chevrolet and GMC trucks — which can haul trailers by day and substitute for a luxury sedan by night — sell for more than $55,000.
The new Silverado was engineered with a focus on slashing weight and trimming production costs to compete with market leader Ford. However, the truck has received unflattering reviews for its utilitarian interior.
GM’s Piszar brushed aside the critics. “We’re not concerned at all,” he said. “As people see this new truck they’re blown away.”
He said the automaker has adopted a “very disciplined, very gradual” approach to ramping up production of its new truck. All versions of the new Silverado will be in dealerships in January and sales moving forward will reflect that reality, he said.
The transformation of large pickups from work vehicles to substitutes for luxury sedans is most evident in the new Ram. FCA designers stuffed the new Ram 1500 with features including a 12-inch touch screen, betting customers would pay more for a fully loaded truck.
“These are all the things that customers who are paying that kind of money have come to expect,” said Jim Morrison, head of the Ram brand for North America. “It’s amazing to be able to have your cake and eat it too.”
FCA Chief Executive Mike Manley said with the new Ram trucks and additional production capacity, the brand should be the number 2 seller in the segment. In the fourth quarter, FCA’s Ram brand tied the Silverado at around 161,000 trucks. — Reuters

Nick Carey