Pickup Truck Sales In Serious Trouble - Despite $5,000+ Rebates; Black Book Down $4,200 This Year

[hatrack]

EDIT

It wasn't that automakers weren't making it easy to buy a truck. The discounts were generous. General Motors ( GM) had 0% financing. Ford offered rebates as high as $5,500. Dodge also offered $5,000 off on the Ram according to Automotive News. Toyota Motor (TM) was also singing the blues with its Tundra pickup, offering 0% or up to $5,000 off. Says J.D. Power & Associates analyst Tom Libby: "They spent a lot of money on incentive, and they still couldn't hold sales up." What's worse is that prices for used pickup trucks fell for the sixth straight month, notes Lehman Brothers (LEH) analyst Brian Johnson. In March, used pickup prices fell faster than for most other types of vehicles.

Used pickups are losing their value quickly. The average three-year-old truck lost $4,200 over the past year, says Ricky Beggs, vice-president and managing editor of the Atlanta-based Black Book, which tracks used-car prices. Two years ago, a three-year-old pickup only lost $2,650 in value, he says. Even diesel pickups—valued by businesses because of their better fuel economy—have been losing value. "They have been going in the can," Beggs says. "There's no question it's related to the contraction in housing."

With construction down, contractors aren't buying many new trucks. And for the recreational pickup buyer, gas prices have become a problem. Even some dealers in Texas, where pickups are king, were complaining. "We were down quite a bit," says James Hardick, part owner of Moritz Chevrolet in Fort Worth. The sales numbers don't tell the whole story. Last month, large pickups were just 11.7% of the market. That's the second-lowest share of the market since 2000, according to J.D. Power.

Toyota saw a big boost in pickup sales, but the company needed big incentives to sell them. Sources close to the company say that Toyota has slowed its pickup assembly line in San Antonio. Meanwhile, Ford is preparing to launch a new F-150 pickup, and Dodge will soon sell its new Ram. Chrysler Chairman Robert Nardelli says he has been counting on the new truck to help tow the company through its fix-it stage.

EDIT

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2008/bw2008048_209057.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

[hobbit709]

1. I drive a 1992 Toyota extended cab with a camper top.

On the highway I get 31 mpg. In town about 25. No way would I get one of those 8mpg-downhill-with-a-tailwind monsters.

[CRF450]

7. Most of them get around 16mpg, not 8

My Dakota gets around that much despite being a midsize truck, even with a smaller 4.7 v8. The v6's dont get any better while being less powerful. Am I pissed off about the gas prices? YES I AM, but I'm still going to drive it cause I have a job and other activities to require its use.

[lectrobyte]

8. Pissed off about gas prices? In a year or three, this will be the good

old days of cheap gas. Between the falling dollar and peak oil, better fasten that seatbelt.

[CRF450]

11. Lucky for me, I can get a lil gas allowance from the company I work for

Which will help a great deal, cause I do alot of driving in the Dakota durring my summer job. But it wont cover the fuel I use for my second job, which I use more fuel driving back and forth from that job, and durring the time off.

[islandmkl]

2. Nardelli going to drive Chrysler...

like he did Home Depot...

which has not recovered from his management, and with the economy as it is, shows no signs of being able to adjust...

[gulfcoastliberal]

10. He and that crew are the vultures circling overhead...

As Chrysler, now desperately thirsty, keeps trudging through the scorching desert, hoping an oasis will over the next sand dune... Not a good.

[jwirr]

3. Not to mention all the pickup trucks setting beside the roads with

for sale signs on them. I do believe that the price of gas is finally having a real effect.

[kestrel91316]

5. I just saw my first Hummer in many weeks this AM. They have pretty

much vanished, except from the used car lots......

[bullwinkle428]

14. I'm seeing pickups for sale in the front yards of farms I drive past!

I actually doubt these are the main "workhorse trucks" for that particular farm. Probably more like their second vehicle, or maybe one of the kids' vehicles, and they're tired of shelling out the $60+ per fillup...

[kestrel91316]

4. Gosh, I wonder if it has something to do with the price of gas..........

[RedEarth]

6. Well, I guess some of the public is waking up to the fact

high gasoline prices are going to the norm....it took them awhile.

[appal_jack]

9. Toyota engineers were fools on this one...

Super-sizing the Tacoma was a bone-headed idea. A pre-2005 4wd X-cab Tacoma powered with Toyota's legendary 4-banger is a fine, capable, compact truck. I have barely glanced at the new ones: only enough to know that they have gotten bloated and overdone, and if I am gonna spend that kind of money that Toyota has wanted for them, then I might as well buy a GMC Duramax diesel.

Same goes for the bloated, ugly Tundra. Now that gas is so high, those old V-6 T-100's look a lot better for some one who needs a 1/2-ton full size truck.

I drive an older F-250 diesel (need it for farmin', can't afford a 2nd vehicle), and am not worried about resale, as I will drive it until it is nothing but rust and loose bolts.

-app

[bullwinkle428]

12. In my little town, there are two used car lots very close to my place -

the lots are just DOMINATED by late-model (2006 and newer for the most part) full-size pickups and medium-to-large SUVs!!

I really have no sympathy at all for those that purchased these vehicles within the last 2 years or so, simply for the macho-vanity appeal. The prices were already well on their way upwards, and it would have been beyond ignorant to think that they'd just fall back down to their nostalgic dollar-a-gallon levels. They were probably way upside-down in their payments, and are now paying out the ass for something small and basic, just so they can afford to drive to work!

[hatrack]

13. Full-page ad in my local paper - 08 F-150 for $13,988, and that's at 0% financing

They'd better put in an extra-durable bed liner to handle the stench of all of that desperation, I'm afraid.