Originally Posted by BigFoot
Well, after 17 years, the F is no longer the most sold vehicle in the US. In May 2008, the Honda Civic (
) became the most sold vehicle with 53,299 units.
The SUV market is done and dusted IMO.
That may well be the case (although I don't believe it for a second) but the slip of the F-series has nothing to do with SUVs. The F-series models are trucks, not SUVs. They have a different purpose and a different market.
Supposedly, according to GM (again this is suspect due to recent circumstances with union negotiations and government hand-outs -- do an Internet search for "CAW" and "Oshawa truck assembly plant if you want the details) the decline of the U.S. housing market and the subsequent credit crunch, means that over the last two weeks (and they're very specific about that time frame) the sales of trucks (not SUVs) have fallen. Supposedly contractors and construction workers (all those people who use their trucks when building and renovating houses) have stopped buying trucks for work.
Yes I know that the F-series trucks are produced by Ford, and I was talking about GM in the paragraph above. Still a lot of what GM is saying is relevant (even if I'm not sure if it's one-hundred per cent accurate. The "two week" timeframe has been disputed by the local union, but I do believe there is evidence for a bit of truck sale slippage over the past few months). I'm sure the housing crunch is hurting lots of potential truck buyers, as is the credit crunch.
From a purely anecdotal point of view, I swear I've seen more trucks on the road over the last few months than I ever have -- and I do mean trucks, not SUVs or crossovers.
I'm very happy going out on a limb and saying that this isn't the end of the truck.
--Toronto
