Pickup Truck Sales Down, But Not Out

Washington DC November 7, 2005; The AIADA newsletter reported that sales of large pickup trucks dropped by more than 30 percent in October, but analysts believe sales will rebound, according to Automotive News. Edmunds.com analyst Jesse Toprak claims the biggest reason for the decline was the “pull-ahead factor," whereby people who intended to buy this fall were pulled into buying early as a result of lucrative summer employee discounts offered by Detroit three automakers. Jim Lentz, Toyota Division general manager, also thinks demand for full-sized pickups and SUVs will bounce back. "Big trucks and SUVs may not get back to where they were," he says. "But they won’t stay off by 50 percent like they were in October."