Big Pickups Way Down in July; Future Rests on American Business

Washington DC August 7, 2006; The AIADA newsletter reported that American's thirst for full-sized pickups is waning, with sales through July dropping 15.3 percent and sales for the month alone down 35.9 percent, according to Automotive News.

Since gas prices reached $3 a gallon across the U.S. this April, trade-in data shows owners are moving to cheaper, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

But trends suggest an easing of this trend to smaller vehicles over the past two months, and analysts from the truck world say the need for full-sized pickups will remain high as three-fourths of owners use the trucks for business purposes.

While data from PIN shows consumers consistently moving to small and mid-sized cars and small crossovers, defections bounced back over time. "Defections were worst in April, when just 61 percent of buyers stayed in the segment. The numbers bounced back in June, when 68.7 percent of those who traded in a pickup purchased another big pickup," reports the News.