Reports of the death of Trucks are somewhat premature

Everyone knows that big trucks and SUVs are dead in the water, right?

Well, never let the facts stand in the way of a good story.

True, sales are down. But they are hardly out.

The latest model year sales stats from Dennis Desrosiers, Canada's car industry numbers guru, show that as of the end of June this year, both on a current month and year-to-date basis, the Ford F-Series full-size pick-up is the Number Two best-selling vehicle in Canada, behind only the perennial car leader, Honda CIvic.

OK, F-Series has often been Number One overall, but in the last model year for the current generation, and in the current economic climate, second isn't too bad.

General Motors as always suffers in these charts by selling essentially the same vehicle under different brand names. But their full-size pick-ups, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra combined, would rank fourth overall, behind Toyota Corolla.

The Dodge Ram full-size pick-up, also in its swan song model year, is at a surprising-to-me eighth in June, and seventh year-to-date.

Smaller SUVs are supposed to be doing well, but only Ford Escape makes the top ten, running seventh in June, and ninth year-to-date.

So maybe there's life in trucks yet.

The public perception that big trucks are dog meat can pay off for the canny used-vehicle buyer. Resale values for these things, coming off lease or outright trade-in, have never been lower. You can pick up a three or four year old truck for thousands less than it would normally be worth, and that buys a lot of gasoline.

Even new-car shoppers can win. I saw a brand-new 2008 Chevrolet Uplander minivan on an Orangeville GM dealer's lot the other day for $13,995.

And my local Milton GM dealer, Richardson Chevrolet, has full-size Chevy Cargo vans for just over $20,000.

Geez - get a port-a-potty and you'd have the cheapest house in Milton by a long shot.

Comments

[Bill Chan]

I recently read about the possible demise of Chrysler's minivan supremacy because of a) the current economic situation with crude oil and b) they have discontinued the short wheelbase version. Think dropping a new generation diesel engine into a minivan could help? If it can be done to SUV's, why not something more practical?