GM considers the future of the full-size pickup truck
It's no secret that the pickup truck market is shrinking, with high gas prices as one obvious culprit. In fact, Toyota's ridiculously popular Camry midsize sedan is nipping at the heels of full-size truck stalwarts such as the Chevy Silverado and Ford F-Series. So far this year, General Motors has seen an 18.5 percent decrease in full-size truck sales and a huge 31.5 percent decrease in full-size SUV sales compared to last year. These sobering statistics are forcing GM to reconsider their future product plans. Already testing the waters with its upcoming Pontiac car-based truck and concepts such as the Denali XT, General Motors needs to know just how large of a market will be left and what external forces will continue to impact that dwindling market share.
Mike DiGiovanni, executive director of global market and industry analysis for GM, is leading a research team deep within GM which is "keeping a close eye on full-sized trucks and asking ourselves how much more aggressively we want to enter the crossover space, given where the world is going." So far, his team has figured that the market for big trucks, though shrinking, will still be sizable, though he adds that "all bets are off if oil skyrockets." Hmm, isn't that exactly what oil's been doing lately?
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lou Grinzo 10:59AM (5/20/2008)
Some hints for GM:
De facto peak oil is real and imminent, whether you believe it is caused by geology or OPEC deciding they like high prices. Therefore, cheap gasoline is history.
The market for pickup trucks will dwindle to the commercial buyers. SUV's will all but disappear. Minivans will still have a role in the market, as the only people who buy them need (or think they need) the utility of all that space; no one buys a minivan to follow a fashion (like SUV's) or to look tough (pickups).
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James Bowe 11:15AM (5/20/2008)
SUV's aren't going anywhere, they just get a smaller market share and split the family market with minivans. If I needed that many seats I'd buy an SUV over a minivan anyday.
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Tim 11:16AM (5/20/2008)
Oil is REALLY costing the US well over $10.00/gal once you include military and healthcare expenses. How can we even put a price on the human and ecological suffering oil brings. A few get rich while others suffer and die in agony.
How high must these costs go before people learn to distinguish between Needs and Wants? Are we as a species REALLY that SELFISH? Are our egos so fragile?
Shame on humanity, shame on our “leaders” for being so inhumane.
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Rich 12:38PM (5/20/2008)
I find it interesting that SUVs and pickup trucks are so out of style so quickly. Those people I know who owned these huge SUVs a couple of years ago would not be seen dead in one today. So, why did they need an SUV two years ago but now a Honda Civic? They watched and listened to the SUV ads on TV and believed that bigger is better and that they needed 4 wheel drive. They bought it all - hook line and sinker.
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Bill 1:18PM (5/20/2008)
Full-size trucks for commercial use will not be going away.
Though interestingly, for those who need enclosed cargo space the minivan is much cheaper and usually offers more interior room, once you remove or fold-flat the seats, than most truck-based, full-sized SUVs (cargo vans offer more space but at a substantially higher cost)
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armmat 1:27PM (5/20/2008)
@ RICH:
Most people who buy these SUV's are egocentric, small penile people...women or men. Same goes for the similar douches who drive arount German latte-mobiles with 400HP...it's no different. They are in the same boat to me.
There are ALOT of insecure, lonely, empty people out there my friend. Automotive marketing departments know this full and well...just look at the ads Chrysler puts out for their Minivans...it starts by showing a family in a living in a house...all of them bored and not talking to each other. Then the surroundings change and they are in the Minivan with the kids playing, the parents talking, everyone happy....do you see the message they are giving? You are a nobody without a car...you can't have a healthy family without sitting in a car and driving around. Couldn't they have just gone out to the nice backyard and sat and had a nice time?
It's easy to dupe people in this country...it's filled with idiots.
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Kevin Nugent 10:27PM (5/20/2008)
Suv will be here in 2050 its all about what percentage of people will be buying them
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Mark Mitchell 5:00PM (5/21/2008)
There is presumably an irreducible need for large pickups in commercial applications but the numbers sold will no doubt ultimately be far lower than they are now when so many are bought as personal transportation--assuming fuel prices stay high. Big SUV sales will decrease but most of those sales will likely migrate to smaller SUVs so big ones will generally be replaced by smaller ones and not some other class of vehicle. Migration to smaller vehicles is due almost entirely to gas prices rather than any big increase in green guilt. Those of the greenish persuasion should be cheering every price increase in motor fuels for it looks to be accomplishing more than any PR campaign to vilify large vehicles ever has.
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keith 8:18PM (11/11/2008)
Its doesn't surprise me that there are so few comments on this site and for this post. You open minded fascists would rather use names such as douche, small penile and idiot to end a debate instead of just realize that others do not have to make the same choices or own the same things you enjoy. I may be a dumb ass in your eyes because I choose not to drive a roller skate that will require extra costs and considerations with regard to its batteries, and pay more for it, but I defend your right to do so. I have owned small cars. and now own a F150 and love it. Stop forcing your world view on everyone else. Freedom is what makes our country great. By the way I ride a bicycle to work, all year how about you greens?
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