American love affair with trucks seems to be waning
The days of Americans migrating from cars to ever larger pickup trucks and SUVs may finally be behind us as a perfect storm seems to be hitting the big truck segment. The combination of high fuel prices and the implosion of the real estate bubble has led to full-size pickups dropping to an 11.7 percent market share. Even mighty Toyota is offering $5,000 rebates on the year-old Tundra. Unlike the SUV market, a much larger percentage of pickup sales are destined for commercial rather than personal use. With new home construction coming to a screeching halt in many areas, carpenters, plumbers, electricians and other contractors have stopped buying new trucks. Not only is that hurting the manufacturers, it's also hitting the second hand market. The depreciation on a three year old pickup has gone from $2,650 in 2006 to $4,200 this year. While GM and Dodge are both introducing hybrid versions of their pickup trucks in the next couple of years, they will likely do little to reverse this trend as they will be expensive and likely relatively low volume. The introduction of new light-duty diesel engines in 2009 may help, but if the price of diesel doesn't get closer to gasoline, any savings in efficiency could be lost to more expensive fuel.
[Source: BusinessWeek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
justin 1:09PM (4/10/2008)
I have only 2200 miles on my new Tacoma. I would not have purchased that Tundra with the $6000 they had on the hood with a ten foot pole. Many problems with that first year. After 5 years living out in the small farm country I was finally able to purchase a truck with this movement away from trucks. I would love if it had a light diesel as an option; maybe it will be an EV Tacoma project in 8 years. I am happy with my utilitarian purchase, and will be until gas hits $6 a gallon.
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MikeW 1:56PM (4/10/2008)
The Tundra 5.7 V8 needs the 8 speed auto. The 4.0 V6 & 4.7 V8 need the 6 speed auto. Tacoma, 6 speed auto for 1gr-fe (4.0), 5 speed auto for the 2.7
The Titan needs the 7 speed automatic & needs the 4.0 V6 as an option. The Frontier needs a 7 speed auto also.
GM: 6L45,50,80,90 Canyon/Colorado, Silverado1500, 2500, 3500
Ford: ZF 6hp21,28,34 Ranger, F-150, F-250
SportTrac 3.7 V6
Honda Ridgeline: 3.7 V6 270hp
Dodge: Ram/Dakota 6 speed auto
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Joe 2:12PM (4/10/2008)
Ford Needs to hurry up and put their EcoBoost motors in the F150. A Turboed 4 cyl in the 150 would get the same (or better) performance than the current base 6, and way better fuel economy.
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psarhjinian 2:21PM (4/10/2008)
Interestingly, aren't Ranger sales the best they have been in years?
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StockDad 2:30PM (4/10/2008)
Yes, give me a Tacoma 4 door, Nissan Frontier 4 door, etc. in 4WD and a DIESEL and I will be first in line.
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MikeW 5:47PM (4/10/2008)
What base 6? Ford dropped the pushrod 4.2 V6 for the new generation.
You want good mileage, lock up the torque converter. How do you do that without making the vehicle ludicrously slow? More gears-get rid of the 4 speed auto.
If the 'ecoboost' V6 is supposed to replace the 5.4 V8 (currently 300hp, 365ft-lbs, and expected to be upped to 315hp, 375ft-lbs) the V6 will need to make 330hp@5000 (on regular), 350ft-lbs across a wide engine speed range (2250-4500)
and hopefully will be coupled to the ZF 8 speed auto.
Then after the stigma of six cylinder has worn away, could Ford install a 250hp 'ecoboost' I4 as the base engine (with 8 speed auto).
Even then people would still use the pejorative 'four banger' So Ford might only offer it for fleets/rental.
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Murc 6:39PM (4/10/2008)
What ever happened to Fords Hydrualic hybrid?
I read about it years ago, about how it would assist the trucks engine during acceleration, and therefore boosting mpg's. where did that tech go? are they still working on it?
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imoore 9:33AM (4/11/2008)
It's just a cycle the industry is going through. Within the next 3 or 4 years, the market for big trucks will be back in high gear. There is and always will be a demand for the full size trucks; what other reason is there for Toyota and Nissan to sell the Tundra and Titan? Window dressing? Nah, because they both know there's money to be made here. Tundra (and the T100 before it) didn't exaactly set the market on fire when it first went on sale, and the Titan probably won't see much sales progress until the next generation hits the market. (The Honda Ridgeline, however, is another case altogether.) Forget CAFE and high fuel prices, just like in the past, the big trucks will be back in vouge. Just look for the new technologies like clean diesels, hybrid drivetrains and other fuel efficient applications to take hold.
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The Other Bob 11:37AM (4/11/2008)
My next vehicle will still likely be a big truck. That said, I only drive about 6000 miles a year so the gas isn't a huge issue.
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