The Chevy Silverado is GM’s top-selling pickup truck among Hispanic buyers in the U.S., as revealed during a manufacturer presentation this week attended by GM Authority.
In one way, this is not surprising, since the Chevy Silverado is also the best-selling GM vehicle of any kind in this country, accounting for 34 percent of Chevrolet sales and 23 percent of all GM sales in the U.S. in 2020.
However, there may be more to it than this. Chevrolet trucks have historically been popular in Latin America, but they can be difficult to acquire. The Chevy Silverado in particular will soon be introduced in both Argentina and Brazil, two countries in which the only Chevy pickups available right now are the S10 (the local name for the Colorado) and the much smaller Montana. The Silverado can, however, be purchased in Mexico and Chile, and has recently arrived in Uruguay.
But here’s the problem. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), average annual wages in those countries are far lower than they are in the U.S. (at least in 2019, but the situation will not have changed much since then). The Silverado is correspondingly much more expensive there than it is here.
Average annual wage 2019 | Chevy Silverado base price January 2021 | |
---|---|---|
U.S. | $65,386 | $30,595 |
Chile | $26,916 | $51,729 |
Mexico | $17,594 | $31,265 |
In the U.S., the average annual wage was $65,386 in 2019, and the base price for a Chevy Silverado is $30,595 today. The Chilean annual wage was 41 percent lower at $26,916, while the starting price for a Silverado is the equivalent of $51,729. The entry-level Silverado is only slightly more expensive in Mexico than in the U.S., at $31,265, but the 2019 average wage was just $17,594, or 27 percent of what it was here.
An additional factor is that financing a vehicle purchase is much easier in the U.S. than it is in Latin American countries.
Although there is some speculation going on here, it could very well be that Hispanic customers who previously lived in countries where buying a Chevy Silverado would have been extremely difficult, if the truck was even available there at all, now find that it has become relatively easy on U.S. wages. Those who respond to this by placing an order have helped prolong the success of Chevrolet’s most successful pickup.
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Comments
Great job, I know in the southwest, most Hispanic only buy Toyota brands products. Hope GM can use this truck to make more in road into that community, because the Hispanic community is the fastest-growing .
As a lifetime purchaser of GM trucks, I will never again buy one until they get rid of their annoying and infuriating AFM/DFM system. I didn’t buy a V8 to drive a weak 4 cylinder vehicle.
Where I in live in the South East…I see a lot of the Hispanic truck drivers in Tundras. I attribute this to less brand loyalty than people that have grown up around trucks their whole lives? At that point, they buy what they feel is the better deal / more reliable?
That’s not to say they don’t drive Chevy’s. I just see them in a lot of Tundras.
Wow, workers in Central and South American make much less than US workers? Why do you think gm and other have so many plants in Mexico to send vehicles to the US and other markets? Silverado made in Mexico same MSRP as US made. Most people don’t know Blazer 100% made in Mexico and worse Buick Envision in Communist China. Most don’t care.
Hispanics in my area seems to like Ford trucks (F150 and Explosive mainly) other than that Toyonda usually.
I have lived in California, New Mexico, Idaho, New York City upstate New York, and now Pittsburg. Mexican Americans have different tastes because we are all different individuals from different families. My dad was a Chevy man. So I grew up with Chevrolet. In not married but Chevy, but it makes me feel a bit closer to him owning a Chevy since he passed away.
I paid $42000 for my crew cab silverado! Where can I buy a new crew cab for $30000?
I’ve seen ’20 CCabs go for under $30k, the problem is it’s WT models but you get color choices and rear tints. It’s less expensive than an similar XL F150 that usually comes in white.
Our hole family Just bought 2020 Silverado’s my dad, brother, two uncles, grandpa and I just bought my 2021 3.0 is nice to see all of us together all trims of Silverado’s reminds me of a dealer.
Hey Holmes want to race my Silverado???
That’s because a good amount of Hispanic truck buyers work and n their own trucks, and chevrolet is the most easier to work on then any other trucks.