Meaner is in for new trucks

Photo: The Canadian Press

The competition for full-size pickup truck customers in the U.S. is as rough-and-tumble as ever, with Ram and Chevrolet rolling out brawny-looking new models that are larger, lighter and more efficient than their predecessors.

For the first time in recent memory, two Detroit automakers are introducing new big trucks at the Motor City's auto show at the same time, in a hot sales market that U.S.-based automakers have dominated for years. Last year, Ford, Fiat-Chrysler and General Motors combined sold more than 2.2 million full-size trucks, controlling 93 per cent of the segment.

Big pickup truck sales are important to automakers, which make huge profits on them. Sales rose nearly 6 per cent last year to almost 2.4 million, even though total U.S. auto sales dropped 2 per cent. One in every seven vehicles sold last year was a big pickup, up from one in every nine in 2009 in the midst of the Great Recession. Ford's F-Series pickup is the country's top-selling vehicle, followed by the GM's Chevy Silverado and Fiat-Chrysler's Ram.

GM unveiled the Silverado Saturday night, while Fiat Chrysler is to roll out the new Ram Monday at the North American International Auto Show. Both are meaner-looking and bigger, but much lighter. Each has sophisticated engine or transmission improvements that give them better gas mileage as they go after the F-Series.

Ford is countering that with its first diesel engine on the F-150, a 3-litre V6 that's expected to get 30 miles per gallon (12.8 kilometres per litre) on the highway.

Style and performance are about the only ways the companies can differentiate themselves because quality has improved greatly, said Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book. "They're giving the trucks more aggressive styling, which helps make them stand out," he said. "Also they're giving them verifiable increases in performance."

The trend toward tougher-looking trucks started with the 1994 Ram, which changed from a conventional flat front with friendly round headlamps to rounded fenders with an outsized grille, and a hood and fenders that resembled a semi, Brauer said. The trend has continued as headlamps have switched to smaller, rectangular LEDs that allowed for even bigger grilles.

GM market research shows that a meaner look appeals to truck buyers, who mainly are males. Eighty-three per cent of big pickups in the U.S. are registered to males, according to data collected by IHS Markit. But women are gaining ground, making up 17 per cent of registered owners last year from 14.7 per cent in 2007.