Chevrolet lost second place to Ram in the US pickup truck sales race this year and has yet to gain the position back, but the Detroit-based automaker says its sales strategy for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra is working as planned.
Instead of having multiple body styles and trim levels available from launch, GM opted to go for a slow trickle of models for both of its trucks, beginning with Crew Cab models in 2018 and slowly expanding its offerings to include Double and Regular Cabs plus more engine options.
This led to an initial downturn in sales that forked Chevrolet’s second place spot over to Ram as Fiat Chrysler applied heavy incentives on its brand-new truck, but The General saw an uptick in Q2 sales with more models available and is optimistic that its plan will continue to work going forward.
“We had a deliberate strategy that our launch would be cadenced,” GM chief financial officer Dhivya Suryadevara told reporters during the automaker’s earning’s call, as first reported by Automotive News. “It was a strategy that was rolled out on purpose, and it’s working.”
Ram sales are up 28 percent to just under 300,000 units in the first six months of the year. By comparison, GM has moved 256,777 Silverados and 97,403 GMC Sierras.
GM was also pleased to see that its truck business was helping to drive strong profits despite the downturn in sales and is confident the profit-heavy pickups will continue to be major money makers. The automaker reported second-quarter earnings of $36.1 billion on $2.4 billion in income.
“You’re really starting to see the earnings potential of our truck franchise,” Suryadevara said.
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Source: Automotive News
Comments
GM Authority reported the 2020 Silverado with RST trim would get the 6.2L engine as an option. This may not be a true statement??????
Straight from Chevrolet’s own press release:
“Also new for 2020, the 6.2L V-8 is available on Silverado RST models equipped with four-wheel drive. As a result, the maximum towing capacity of the Silverado is increased to a class-leading 13,400 pounds when properly equipped.”
That’s a good bragging point.
Why wasn’t it available for 2019?!?
Because the 1500 duramax wasn’t available in 2019. Given that the pricing will be similar they need another method to move the 6.2L.
The most likely scenario is that the addition of the turbo 4 cyl and 3.0L diesel is what allows GM to make the 6.2 engine more widely available. It’s all related to CAFE requirements for fuel economy and emissions of light duty trucks. Since the 3.0L diesel wasn’t available for the 2019 model year, the 6.2 couldn’t be offered in Trail Boss and RST trims until 2020.
Sorry to say but, the 2020 Silverado configurator is open and “NO” RST 6.2L is available. They added the diesel engine. Better check your sources.
Just because it’s not available yet doesn’t mean that won’t change in a day, a week, a month from now.
We wouldn’t have to keep hearing about why they’re in third place if they would’ve used the C8 formula.
In 1978 Chevrolet sold 1.3 million trucks, the highest amount ever from any manufacturer. In 2019 Chevy will have to have a great 2nd half to sell 50% of 78’s total. This is exactly what 40 years worth of piss poor management looks like.
The market sets the pricing. If people refused to pay 50-70k for a half-ton truck, the market would readjust. GM isn’t spending money on the interior, their truck development money is going into more efficient and powerful powertrains. It costs a ton of money to design a 5,000 lb full-size truck that’s capable of getting over 23 MPG highway, hauling 2k pounds in the bed, and towing over 12k lbs.
That’s why Ram came out with a truck with a flashy new interior but the rest of the truck is really mediocre by most standards. The worst being the fact that they’re still using the same old Hemi V8 that hasn’t had a meaningful improvement in over a decade. It’s a big old gas guzzler that can’t even move the Ram fast enough to beat the new Silverado 5.3 in acceleration testing anymore. The suspension is still doesn’t have enough payload cap to compete with Ford and GM. The new suspension is so heavily tuned to ride soft like a car that Ram replaced tougher materials with weak stuff made of plastic. The bed design is way less useful than what you can get in a Silverado or F-150.
The new Ram’s 5.7 can’t beat even a 2.7EB and only tied vs a 2019 Silverado RST with the 5.3. But both the new 5.3 and 2.7EB will deliver 5+ MPG better. No reviewers mention that one.
Yeah my brother’s 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie is averaging 16 MPG combined. His best was 19 MPG. They really need to do something about the ancient 5.7 Hemi.
Of course profits are up. Have you sat in a new High Country? Their idea of unmatched luxury is spray painting some interior pieces a bronze color.
If it actually was a luxury truck, it would cost the more to build it. No surprise market share is going down though.
Truck guys really get the short end of the stick. A 60k C8 Corvette has technology, performance and luxury for days. A 70-80k High Country / Denali is mediocre at best. Obviously they have very different missions in life but for the price of these trucks we should expect much more!
Retail market share is up 3%. It only looks down because Ford is loading up on fleet sales and GM truck sales is coming off a strong sales year in 2018.
They failed to be the second best selling nameplate. The launch is an abject failure.
Not enough product, not a good enough value, and questionable styling/design decisions are forcing GM into 3rd place.
By the time they fully launch the damn thing, it will be time to redesign the interior. It already is time to fix the center stack.
GM was forced into 3rd place???
“Ram sales are up 28 percent to just under 300,000 units in the first six months of the year. By comparison, GM has moved 256,777 Silverados and 97,403 GMC Sierras.”
256,777 + 97,403 = â€354,180‬
GM sold over 54,180 more trucks than Ram so far this year. Apparently you failed math class.
I am coming around to the sierra. I still do not like the square fender wells. Too much plastic. I wonder if the fender is rounded under the square fender flair.
The extra profits come from the increased window sticker prices and the decreased content. How a truck that costs over 50K lacks a light in the glove box, a rear seat armrest, a driver’s side visor mirror, overhead sunglasses holder and a bunch of other little missing items is seriously bad.
Have you look at luxury cars compared to mainstream cars? Many cost 10k more than a comparable no luxury car and they don’t have all what you can get in a mainstream car. the manufactures are smart knowing that people will pay for the luxury of these options compared to just putting them in the mainstream cars. Audi, BMW use leatherette in their interiors on most cars until you option them up. I rather have cloth than vinyl.
I looked at the interior of the new trucks and it is different than the old Truck and much nicer. Some people are going to complain no matter what. It nice that GM gives you buttons for climate and other options unlike Dodge had done with many of their cars. If the screen goes out you can’t adjust anything.
GM goal is to make money and that is what they are doing.
There is such a thing as making a profit and cutting so many expected things along with making a cheaper interior that you alienate and lose customers.
Most of the complaining about lacking features is coming from millennial cry babies that have never owned a full-size truck and really don’t need a full-size truck. They champion a Ram that still has a major payload capacity problem and is less fuel efficient than the last gen truck. GM delivered a truck that’s beating its EPA estimated fuel economy in real world tests, offers more payload capacity than the last truck, and has the largest and most useful bed on a full-size truck sold today. None of that counts apparently because millennials don’t use trucks as trucks. Pathetic.
GM offers a lot more stuff standard in even an LT. LED headlights, keyless entry (no button on the handle on a Ram Big Horn gotta get the fob out to unlock the doors, etc. The Ram jump seat in the Big Horn I looked at had the cheapest design I’ve seen in years. Cheaper than even the DS Ram’s. Cheap plastic suspension control arms. During the test drive of a Laramie the tailgate open message kept popping up constantly and the touchscreen went black and wouldn’t turn back on without stopping, shutting the truck off, get oit, get back in, shut the door, turn truck back on.. did Ram even test this truck before it went into production. No thanks I’ll wait for the 6.2 powered Trail Boss.
Nitro I appreciate your enthusiasm for the new trucks but your not looking at reality. First off I’m not a millennial or a first time full-size truck buyer. Yes I need a full-size truck to pull the trailers I own. I’ve owned GM trucks my entire life and would like to keep it that way but we can’t just keep giving GM a pass. Yes there are some very nice features (bed included) on the new trucks. But you have your head under a pillow if you think the interior is as nice as the competition. It’s arguably not even as nice as the 14-18 interior outside of improved rear seat room and some new features. The outside looks cheap as well. When comparing high end models the competition has painted flares, painted tailgate handles, nicely finished mirrors, nice door trim etc. GM trucks just look unfinished in comparison. I looked at a 20 HD Denali last week and the front is very attractive but you move over to the side and it’s a sea of unpainted plastics. Instead of making 10,000 lights standard (cab lights, fender lights) I would have preferred the money was spent on paint matching. They are nice trucks overall but they need to pay more attention to the details. I wanted to update my 15 HD with a new 20 HD but I think I will wait until they do an mce that hopefully includes a complete rethink of the interior. When spending 80k for a new truck it’s not out of line to except more.
The current F-150 interior is terrible. Cheapest plastics I’ve ever seen. I work with a guy that had his entire dash replaced because the plastic is so thin and cheap that it curls up around the defroster vent and glove box door.
The new GM truck interior is far and away a better than the last gen. The last gen dash was a bad design that was creaky in the winter time. As the truck warmed up you can hear all kinds of weird ticks and creaks as the plastic expanded and shifted. It was hard to clean because there were a ton of dust traps. The trailer brake controller was on the wrong side. The steering wheel was off to one side. The only thing that tue old truck had better was the instrument cluster and the shifter was metal.
Painted plastics are terrible for the sides of a truck. They end up all chipped up. The fact of the matter is that the most vocal critics of GM trucks seem to be the ones that haven’t owned trucks long enough to know the difference between something that looks nice but won’t hold up and something that looks not quite as nice but was designed that way because it will hold up better in the long run. Painted plastic fender flairs will look great on the dealer lot and look like garbage in 6 months.
Very well said. Today’s customers demand everything they can get for the price Point. GM needs to realize this ASAP.
Instead of going around bragging about how much more money these new 1500’s are bringing in per sale, spend some of that to lure more potential buyers into the fold. But GM is extremely short sided and skimps on the Interior which is a major NoNo in today’s Automotive World.
Today’s customers also want an engine that’s powerful and efficient. Ram doesn’t have one for the 1500. Their top engine, the 5.7 Hemi, can’t even move the Ram 1500 faster than an F-150 with the little 2.7 Ecoboost. Even GM’s small 5.3 V8 is as fast as the 5.7 Hemi. Most guys with a new 2019 Ram are struggling to even get 20 MPG. Reading the discussions on the Ram forums, some guys are mad that their old Ram got better fuel economy than their new Ram. All that work Ram put into the totally new truck and their fuel economy managed to get worse. Wow.
I agree Nitro. They whine about how rough riding a half-ton is these days. Their criteria for crowning a truck “the best half-ton” solely on what the interior looks like and never once mention the design of the bed, suspension, or the rated capabilites of the truck. The new 5th gen Ram might have increased payload ratings slightly, but the Ram trims with the nice interior that’s winning favor with critics are so heavy that they don’t have enough payload to safely tow the huge weights that Ram says they can tow. Edmunds used their long-term Ram 1500 Limited to tow an airstream with the family along for the ride. The truck had a high enough tow rating to pull the trailer, but the Airstream had a very heavy tongue weight that should have meant that his wife and kids should have followed in a 2nd vehicle. The guy apparently didn’t understand tongue weight and payload capacity because he was way over the payload rating for the truck and towed the trailer illegally. The only reason the truck didn’t look overloaded (he did note that the front end felt very light while towing it) was because of Air Ride but that suspension system is extremely unreliable in cold weather states. He’s lucky he didn’t get pulled over and forced to get a truck with a proper rating for the trailer before he could continue on his way.
Coil spring rear suspension. Great for ride. Terrible for payload capacity. There’s no free lunch.
This sounds like spin from Dhivya Suryadevara, and it’s not even good spin. What was the reasoning behind the strategy? This seems like the classic line “I meant to do that” when someone makes a mistake but is too embarrassed to admit it.
They gained 3% retail market share and made more profit per truck. Sounds like a pretty sound sales result so far.
I have never seen GM fans or customers more upset with GM than now. This truck is a major disappointment and the excuse of the strategy of a delayed roll out is total bull!! We have had crew and double cabs in a ll trims since last September in our area and we got regular cab long beds in March of this year! I think GM should swallow some pride and admit they made a mistake and they should be quick to fix it!
I don’t think I would be bragging about increased profits when the people I sell too are fussing about a lackluster product. GM has got to do something other than make excuses with a lame “roll out” strategy. Was third place their strategy all along? And what good are higher transaction profits when sales continue to decrease?
I always said I want in your pocket time after time, not just gouge you the first time and you don’t come back!
The lackluster products along with some poor service from the dealers and people are going to make them the #5 selling truck.
Lackluster. Sounds like you’re either trying to sell to first time truck buyers that have no real need for a truck or you just don’t understand the truck yourself. The new half-tons are VASTLY superior to the previous GM trucks. Better IFS design with a significantly tighter turn radius, DFM is 10 times better than any AFM or MDS system, the average payload rating is hundreds of pounds higher than any Ram 1500 new or old, even the small 5.3 is now as fast as a Ram equipped with the 5.7 Hemi, the bed design is the best you can get in a full-size truck today, etc. Anybody that took the time to understand the GM truck’s competitors knows that the Ram’s payload ratings in the nice trims is so low that you’ll often exceed the payload rating if you try to haul the family and tow a travel trailer at the same time. Car and Driver did a comparison test in december and their 2019 Ram 1500 Limited CCSB truck had a 7100 pound GVWR, was rated to tow 10,300 pounds, and yet the payload capacity was a laughable 990 pounds. There’s literally no way you could haul your family and tow a travel trailer at the same time. Most mid-size trucks have more payload capacity!
Yep DFM is great. I was very surprised on how unnoticeable it is. Like you said, 10 times smoother than any AFM DOD or MDS stuff.
IAM LOOKING FOR RETARD ROB IT LOOKS LIKE GM IS BEING CHEAP AGAIN THE SILVERADO HAS BEEN A FLOP AN EVEN WITH SOME ADD CHANGES THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD AT THE BEGINNING ITS STILL NOT GOING TO GET OUT OF THIRD PLACE DID I COMMENT ON THIS STORY CORRECT KING MORON ROB
So the Corporate Strategy was to go from the Second Position to third with the Silverado?
GM has sold 54k more trucks than Ram so far. Math isn’t your strong suit huh?
Silverado sales. Did I mention Sierra?
Your reading and comprehension ability must not be your Strong Point huh?
Don’t be rude especially if the point you are trying to make is nonsense. Thank you.
Well it’s not Nitro’s fault that you seem to have a hard time understanding the difference between GM, GMC, and Chevrolet. GM didn’t move into 3rd place as you said. Even today, they’re selling more trucks than Ram and they’re keeping the profits instead of throwing a pile of cash on the hood to get a sale. Ram sales are supposedly growing like never before but where are the results? Where are the profits? Even with the sales growth, they’re still 3rd place among to the top truck manufacturers.
Evidently when someone states Silverado that automatically adds the Sierra to the conversation on this site for some individuals. What are you talking about?
I never once said a word about Sierra. They are two different Trucks with two different Sales numbers. I said Silverado lost the second spot….THE SILVERADO to Ram. Please follow along. Thanks
Looking forward for the new 2020 Diesel 3.0 that’s gets 33 mpg. Hope buy one at end of year or before that.
Don’t kid yourself GM; when your flagship profit machine has a new release and sales don’t jump 20+% you failed. You have two choices IMO either clean house in the management side or start prepping your PR team to begin begging the US tax payer for another bailout.
I still get that acidic vomit taste in my mouth every time i see that putrid Silverado, good grief you managed to make the Titan look good by comparison and that’s a super low bar.
Hopefully my old Sierra holds up long enough for GM to pull its head out!
The T1 roll out was very anticlimactic. You could feel the disappointment. There’s no way they haven’t had this conversation in the board room. I get the concept of a roll out and that it takes time for all new models to arrive while older models phase out but the collective disdain for the T1 is real whether they admit it or not.
The collective disdain is primarily coming from people that never had any intention to buy a GM truck regardless of how nice or well design it was. The K2xx trucks received just as much criticism and disdain, had just as slow of a start to sales in late 2013 and most of 2014, but by 2015 GM nearly outsold Ford in full-size trucks despite all of that. That same K2xx truck sold over 800k units last year. The only reason sales look “down” is because the trucks are coming off a huge sales volume last year and are now selling a new truck with relatively low incentives. They don’t have a “classic” with all the options that Ram is offering in the 1500 Classic. They haven’t had ads for 2019 Ram 1500 Big Horns with over $15k off MSRP. You guys try to act like you understand the truck market and yet you’re conveniently leaving a LOT out of the picture.
@Nitro
I do not think anyone here is stating that the new 1500’s are bad trucks or will not sell.
What some of us are stating is very simple. GM decided to save some cash on these All New Corporate Cash Cows and it is unfortunately showing in sales right now. I think you are (I hate trying to put words in your mouth and if I am wrong I apologize) stating that the GM Twins are the best overall when compared to the Ram, which I totally agree. But todays Auto Market has completely changed. I work in a 12 person office. We do nothing that would necessitate any of us driving Full size Trucks. Out of the 12 people that work in my office, five of them drive a Full size Truck, two have Tahoes, four have CUV’s, and I am the lone Sedan person. My point is people love driving Trucks and they want what their cars have always had. Luxurious interiors and lots of Tech. Lets be honest, GM Twins do not even offer a Panoramic Roof option as just one example. GM really missed the boat on the buyers that really do not need a truck but just want one. You may dislike those buyers but for GM, those are typically on the higher end of the Trim Spectrum. GM is leaving some serious cash out there and Market Share for each Brand.
Judging by the 2nd Quarter 2019 sales reports, it looks like FORD is the most likely to be begging for a bailout. They’re on track to sell over 900k F-series trucks this year yet where are the profits?? How are they not making money when the interior is so cheap it distorts in the sun, the 4×4 hubs are plastic, the engines are built cheaper than ever (plastic oil pans, linerless aluminum blocks, piston slapping engines, steel on steel valve guides, etc), barely any options available in an XLT anymore, etc. They have to be makings a ton of money on each truck sold. What a dysfunctional company. No wonder VW is getting ready for a takeover.
It’s pretty obvious the Ford fanboys are trolling this comment section. They’re the ONLY ones still talking about bailouts over a decade later. Pretty ironic considering all the taxpayer money and negative interest “loans” Ford got behind the curtain and haven’t paid back. Anybody that seriously thinks GM is headed for another bankruptcy and that Ford isn’t, is DELUSIONAL. You make a good point. Ford sells nearly a million full-size trucks every year and they still post weak profits.
Sales didn’t jump 20% when the new 2019 Ram first started selling. The truck hit dealer lots in March 2018 and it wasn’t until Ram started throwing $10k on the hood that the truck started selling in numbers decent enough to register a noticeable increase.
Like someone else pointed out, when the K2xx trucks first went on sale in late 2013, guys were trolling and saying that the truck as a sales “failure” and the styling was ugly, interior was bad, etc. The same old talk was going in 2014 about how GM was going to get passed by Ram in sales because the K2xx trucks were a failure and a new redesign needed. That ended when GM started matching Ford and Ram in incentives later in 2014. By 2015 GM was selling more full-size trucks than Ford with the very same trucks that were supposedly too “ugly” to sell and had an interior that was filled with “cheap plastics”. It seems that truck buyers didn’t think that.
Now those same Ford and Ram fanboys are on here saying the same garbage again. I wonder what sales look like later this year when the 6.2 is available in the cheaper Custom Trail Boss, LT Trail Boss, and RST trims. Plus incentives will inevitably climb as the year goes on.
The new Ram is a joke. So useless for real truck work. I test drove a Laramie and the payload was under 1500 lbs. With the tongue weight of my camper there’s no way I could use it. Not without over loading the truck and risking getting caught by the state boys.
So much for the big payload improvement they claimed. Go look at the 5th gen Rams forum. There’s a thread for posting their truck’s payload stickers. A ton of them only have 1,200 or 1,300 lbs of payload capacity and the truck is a 7,100 lb GVWR truck. That’s pretty terrible.
It’s embarrassing. The new Ram is all interior and the rest is inferior.
So let me get this straight your strategy all along was to go from second place to third, total geniuses. I have been driving GMC and Silverado pick ups for close to 50 years now. As a GM truck buyer and driver I have never been so disgusted in a GM product than I am with this truck and there *iss pour customer service from GM and there dealers. First off I don’t care what any one says you just do not see hardly any new silverados or Sierra pick up’s on the rode and this is August. I have been trying to buy a 2019 either Sierra SLT or a Silverado LTZ double cab 6.2 since last December and no dealers have one on the lot. I call around to the dealers and the first thing they ask me is why I want a 6.2 liter when the 5.3 has just as much power, are you kidding me?? because i’m the one dropping 60 K on a 3rd place pick up and this is what I want. The other thing they tell me is that nobody buys the double cab and that everybody wants the EXT cab, ya right that is why the lots are full of them. The only thing GM cares about is there shareholders which probably do’not even drive GM products, they could give a crap less what we want. Well guess what GM this GM truck driving guy has had just about enough of your way or the HWY attitude towards your customers.
Gm should correct the a/c problem ! Its either the new freon or cheap manufactoring. I’ve always driven gm trucks because they had the a/c system figured out until now. Go back to what worked in the past.
There is no AC problem with the new trucks. The 2014-16 trucks had problems with AC condensers they were getting from their supplier. A lot of manufacturers have had issues with AC condensers from suppliers. The only AC issue I’ve heard of is with the 2019+ Ram 1500’s. Weak AC even when temps aren’t that hot. Pretty sad that guys have to cut up the hoses in their engine bay to block coolant from circulating through the heater core because Ram engineers couldn’t get the design right.
Their strategy must be working.
Our local Chevrolet dealership is full of new trucks????
I’m seeing a ton of new GM trucks on the road. Every brand of full-size truck has dealers with full lots of new trucks.