Light truck sales sag in February

March 4, 2002
Light truck manufacturers reported declining sales in February this year compared to 2001, with only DaimlerChrysler's retooled Ram pick-up posting a big gain. Ram sales jumped 19% to 32,253 units sold last month versus the 27,156 units it sold in February of 2001. However, DaimlerChrysler's light truck sales in North America showed an overall decline, dropping 6% to 134,370 units sold last month
Light truck manufacturers reported declining sales in February this year compared to 2001, with only DaimlerChrysler's retooled Ram pick-up posting a big gain.

Ram sales jumped 19% to 32,253 units sold last month versus the 27,156 units it sold in February of 2001. However, DaimlerChrysler's light truck sales in North America showed an overall decline, dropping 6% to 134,370 units sold last month versus 142,568 units sold the year before.

Ford Motor Co. said its overall truck sales were down 5% in February, dropping to 169,358 units compared to sales of 178,309 in February of 2001. While sales of Ford's F-Series pickups climbed 0.3% to 63,423 units last month, up from 63,220 units in February, 2001, overall Ford-brand trucks, including SUVs, declined 6.4%, with heavy truck sales dropping 27.7%.

Toyota Motor Sales said its pickup truck sales dropped 8% to 17,896 units in February, down from 19,452 units in February of 2001. Its total truck sales were off 1.4%, dropping to 47,664 units last month, down from 48,361 the previous February.

Nissan North America said its total sales of North American-built trucks dropped 6.5% to 14,085 units last month, down from 15,071 units last February. Including sales of pickups and other light trucks imported from Japan, Nissan's truck sales dropped 9.9% overall to 20,416 units last month, down from 22,669 units the year before.

About the Author

Sean Kilcarr | Editor in Chief

Sean previously reported and commented on trends affecting the many different strata of the trucking industry. Also be sure to visit Sean's blog Trucks at Work where he offers analysis on a variety of different topics inside the trucking industry.

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