The truck segment is losing its market share in the US. The reason? Pickup owners are switching to SUVs, as claimed by S&P Global, an information and analytics company based in New York.
According to S&P Global Mobility's study, the truck segment – specifically, the light-duty full-size half-ton pickup segment – has been on a steady decline since more than two years ago. Of note, the trucks in this segment have been the highest-volume models in the US auto market since time immemorial, with three models from Ford, Chevrolet, and Ram constantly leading the sales charts.
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The study stipulates that the market share of the truck segment was at 7.8 and 7.5 percent in Q3 and Q4 2022, respectively, with Q4 data considering October 2022 sales only. This is the segment's lowest since the industry posted a 7.4 percent market share in Q2 2012. The truck segment peaked in Q2 2020 with a 12.2 percent market share.
S&P Global Mobility concludes that the declining trend was due to pickup truck owners switching to SUVs. The firm's data conclude that the body style loyalty of Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram 1500 owners have declined from 2021 to 2022. Meanwhile, loyalty to two-box SUVs has increased in the same period.
Of note, S&P Global Mobility claims that heavy-duty full-size pickup share (three-quarter/one-ton models) has been relatively steady during the time period, suggesting that buyers of the bigger three-box models haven't switched yet.
As with previous years, the three best-selling trucks of 2022 are the Ford F-Series, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram Pickups. The Blue Oval led the way with 653,957 F-Series units sold, while the Bow Tie brand moved 523,249 units of the Silverado. Ram lines up third with 468,344 units sold.
With electrification coming in, it's interesting to see if the trend of switching from pickups to SUVs will continue. We'll keep an eye out for more days so watch this space.
