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backAMERItalk May, 2012
Canada's pickup truck wars
It towered before me, a $59,869.60 bruiser of a pickup, a 2012 F-150 FX4 EcoBoost with gleaming bumpers, 20-inch six-spoke wheels, a chrome exhaust tip, black-finished grille and blacked-out head lamps and tail lamps.
Bad-ass? You bet.
The interior, too: black leather upholstery with red piping and perforations, black dashboard accents, brushed-metal surfaces and satin finishings on the shifter knob, door handles and even the air conditioning vent bezels. This is luxury with plenty of looks.
But a work truck? Really? A “useful tool,” as F-150 chief engineer Jackie DiMarco describes her baby? Well, yes.
Here are some numbers that matter in a working rig: A six-cylinder F-Series (302 horsepower/278 lb-ft of torque) has a best-in-class 6,100-lb maximum trailer tow rating versus V-6 rivals, and the 5.0-litre V-8 version (360 hp/380 lb-ft torque) has a 10,000-pound tow rating, also best in class, argues Ford.
Luxury, styling and muscle. All three are commonplace in the pickup world today. These trucks have come far since they were strictly staples of blue-collar job sites, ranches, farms, fishing holes and hunting lodges. And they're big business, the crucial piece in the business plans of all three Detroit-based car companies – and a hoped-for place to find growth for Toyota (Tundra) and Nissan (Titan).
Consider: The F-Series is Canada's best-selling vehicle and has been for decades. It is the core of Ford's business here and in the United States: the F accounted for more than one-third of Ford of Canada's sales last year.
The Ram was the No. 2 seller in Canada last year and remains so in 2012. Ram sales represented more than one-quarter of Chrysler Canada sales in 2011. At General Motors, the combined sales of the twin rigs, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, represented more than one-third of that company's sales.
Toyota and Nissan each would love to sell even a tenth of the full-size pickups the Detroit makers move, but that's not going to happen any time soon, if ever. Why? Neither builds a comprehensive pickup lineup comparable to the array of engines, transmissions, bed sizes and styles and so on offered by the Detroit companies. That's one issue. Another is owner loyalty. A Ford pickup buyer is generally a Ford owner for life, and the same is true for Ram, Silverado and Sierra loyalists.
Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, points out that pickups were particularly popular last year in Canada, along with large commercial vans. He wonders if this will continue.
“The growth in sales was related to two factors that are unlikely to continue. First, these segments declined the most during the financial crisis so there was a lot of pent-up demand when the economy turned. This is now pretty well satiated,” he says in a note to clients.
“And second, GM and Chrysler had massive incentives on their pickup trucks as they had to keep their factories humming to show their political masters they were doing well. This is less necessary in the future.”
Exactly when that future arrives has yet to be determined. For now, the rich sales sweeteners are alive and well. For instance, that ritzy FX4 Ford SuperCrew has an $8,000 incentive to buck up potential buyers if you go with the V-6 EcoBoost engine, while the V-8 is in play with an $8,500 factory-to-dealer rebate. GM? At least $8,250 is in play on both the Silverado and Sierra. And at least $8,000 is out there for bargaining on the Titan, $9,750 on the Ram, and $4,000 or more on the Tundra.
To read entire article, please click here.
Source: The Globe & Mail - GAI
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