What Ford, Chevy Truck Sales Say About the Economy
America's love affair with pickup trucks has resumed and The Street has some thoughts on it. This was something I expected as people get sick of driving the small car they traded their SUV in for and gas prices seem steady, even though they are near three dollars a gallon. How quickly we forget.
Quote from the article:
Source: What Ford, Chevy Truck Sales Say About the Economy
Quote from the article:
Truck sales rose across the board in July: Ford(F) pickup sales rose 27.4%, while overall sales rose 3.3%. At General Motors, sales of its Silverado pickup rose 25.5%, while overall sales rose 5.4%. At Toyota (TM) pickup sales fell only 3.7% while overall sales fell by 6.8%. Lastly, at Chrysler, pickup sales rose 13.6% while overall sales rose 5%. The increase in pickup sales reflects continued moderate gas prices as well as a slowly improving economy and easing credit availability for automotive purchases. It is, of course, a benefit for the Detroit automakers relative to foreign competitors, because the U.S. companies have long dominated the pickup market. These vehicles also provide higher profit margins than small cars. Pickup sales numbers rose even though home construction has been trending down, belying a historic correlation. New home construction fell in June for the second straight month and is at its lowest level since October. "Homebuilders tend to be right now the most pessimistic group of people, frankly," said Ford sales analyst George Pipas on the company's monthly sales call. However, "there's road construction everywhere," said Ken Czubay, vice president for marketing and sales. He said those projects have enabled construction workers to replace worn-out vehicles. |
Source: What Ford, Chevy Truck Sales Say About the Economy
