U.S. Light Truck Sales Crumble in April – Down 17.4%

For nearly two decades, SUVs and pickup trucks were the backbone of the American auto industry. But now, no thanks to record high fuel prices and a slowing economy, that seems to be changing. According to Autodata’s figures, while April sales of passenger cars were up 5.2% on last year at 655,432 units, light truck sales plunged down 17.4% compared to last April at 591,122 units. Overall, the US market was down by 6.9% in April at 1,246,554 units.

In terms of year-to-date sales, passenger vehicles sales were down 1.0% at 2,386,338 units compared to January-April 2007, while light truck sales have decreased by 13.5% at 2,437,508. With 4,823,846 units, the overall market is down by 7.7%. -Continued

The once almighty “US big-three”, GM, Ford and Chrysler Groups saw their light truck sales free-fall by 26.7%, 18.1% and 26.4% respectively in April. Their year-to-date light truck sales were also down by 17.3%, 11.1% and 24.0% respectively. Worryingly, all three saw their passenger car sales drop in April (GM -0.1%, Ford -1.0% and Chrysler -14%). With the exception of Chrysler who has a 2.9% increase in year-to-date passenger car sales, GM and Ford are down by 4.4% and 7.3% respectively.

Sales Figures: Autodata