Chevy Silverado edges out Ram in truck sales wars

The Chevy Silverado is keeping the everencroaching Ram at bay in the truck wars, despite overall dismal industry auto sales in the second quarter due to the global coronavirus pandemic. This month, many automakers reported quarterly sales results that reflected the impact of idled vehicle production for most of the quarter and stayathome and related orders in many places hampering sales.

General Motors reported its quarterly sales were down 34% and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles reported a 39% plummet in sales.

Some other notable automakers to report depressing sales results included American Honda, which saw sales decline 27.9%, and Nissan, which saw sales crash by 49.5%. Nissan’s highly profitable Pathfinder sport utility vehicle experienced a 26% decline in sales.

Analysts say the lackluster results are merely a bump in the road that don’t necessarily indicate longterm losses.

“Sales results for GM and (Fiat Chrysler) would be disappointing if there was no global pandemic, but the past few months have shown that consumers have an appetite for SUVs and trucks so that sets them up in a good position, especially as GM is rolling out its fullsize SUVs which are perfect for summer road trips,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds.

Caldwell warns that the “big X factor ... is whether there will be a return to shelter in place orders which will hurt consumer confidence and create more trepidation in the workforce.”

One notable spot in the quarterly sales results is that even though Silverado sales were down compared to the yearago quarter, it narrowly edged out Ram by 4,984 units.

For the quarter, GM sold 122,432 Silverado pickups, which includes lightduty, mediumduty and heavyduty. Fiat Chrysler sold 117,448 Ram pickups, which it doesn’t break out by model.

It’s a consecutive quarterly win for the Silverado and that’s significant because the Silverado and Ram have been battling it out for what inevitably ends up as the No. 2 spot behind the nation’s usual favorite, the Ford F150.

It’s expected that the F150 will hold onto the top spot when Ford reports its sales.

Recently, the Ram has been a serious challenger to the longstanding second favorite, Silverado. The Ram topped the Silverado in total sales for 2019 by 10.1%.

“The fact that it’s surprising to some that Silverado has regained the No. 2 spot shows how far Ram has come with their pickup truck strategy in just a few years,” Caldwell said. “The truck wars have never been more heated as consumers continue to demand these vehicles and inventory dwindles during this global pandemic.”

Given that pickups add big profits to the automakers’ bottom line, every sale is important, Caldwell said, especially as nearly every sale is going to a retail customer versus a commercial fleet.

GM’s secondquarter total sales plummeted due to the impact of the COVID19 pandemic and as dealers struggled on lean inventories. GM restarted its North American production on May 18, but it took time to refill the product pipeline.

“GM entered the quarter with very lean inventories and our dealers did a great job meeting customer demand, especially for pickups,” said Kurt McNeil, GM’s U.S. vice president of sales operations. “Now, we are refilling the pipeline by quickly and safely returning production to prepandemic levels.”

All of GM’s brands experienced declines: Buick, 36%; Cadillac, 41%; Chevrolet, 34%; and GMC, 33%. But a handful of models showed some increases, such as the new Chevy Blazer and GMC Sierra heavyduty pickup. The new Blazer midsize SUV’s sales rose 67.6% and the Sierra heavy duty rose 7.6%.

Even though the Silverado beat Ram in total sales, Silverado’s lightduty sales tumbled 18.6% to 89,465 and heavyduty Silverado sales slid 0.7%. Mediumduty Silverados, which are sold to fleet customers and small business owners, shot up by 62.6% to 1,688 units.

Fiat Chrysler’s 39% quarterly drop compared with April, May and June 2019 meant 367,086 vehicles sold, down from 597,685.

Eric D. Lawrence and Jamie L. LaReau are Detroit Free Press writers.