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Incentive Spending Surges in U.S. Pickup Truck Market
Trucks are driving the American car market, but it’s not entirely because pickups are so inherently popular.
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Trucks are driving the American car market, but it’s not entirely because pickups are so inherently popular. Huge sales incentives that cut retail prices as much as 20% are a big factor, Bloomberg News reports.
The news service notes that Incentive spending on trucks is at an 8-year high, with discounts as great as $10,000. Last month discounts that topped $7,000 boosted sales of Fiat Chrysler Automobile’s Ram fullsize pickups 29%.
The increase was enough to push the Ram into second place in the pickup segment, ahead of General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Silverado truck for the first time in at least six years. Discounts on the Silverado were about $5,200.
The truck segment’s perennial leader, Ford’s F-150 series truck, remains solidly in the lead. But its volume slipped 3% in September.
Analysts predict the price war will continue through 2016, even as growth in the segment cools. Bloomberg notes that demand for fullsize pickups so far this year has slowed to 5% in the past three months from 15% in the same period last year.
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