Did Ram outsell Chevy Silverado for first time in history last month?

Wed, 02 Apr 2014

Recently released automotive March sales figures point to a major shakeup in the pickup world. Last month, Ram's trucks overtook the Chevrolet Silverado to become the second-best selling vehicle in the segment for the first time ever.

The Ram pickups outsold the Silverado by 285 units in March. Chrysler shifted 42,532 trucks for the month compared to 42,247 for the Chevrolet fullsize. According the Allpar, this is the first time either Dodge or Ram's pickups have outsold Chevy in a month, and the Bowtie has held down the second place spot in the pickup market since 1978 when Ford took over the top spot. The F-Series remains the market's king, with 70,940 sales in March and 173,358 sold since January.

The results may only be a blip. From January through March, Ram has sold 96,906 trucks versus 107,757 for the Silverado. One month of sales figures isn't enough to call this a trend, but it's certainly an interesting data point.

A second qualifier to in these results is that Ram includes medium-duty Class 4 and 5 chassis cab vehicles in its figures, plus any 3500 chassis cab fleet models. For its part, Ford rolls in F-450 and F-550 in F-Series sales, according to Pickuptrucks.com. The Silverado doesn't offer these types of configurations.

Could we be seeing a seismic shift in the pickup truck market, wherein Chevy will drop to third place in the segment for good? In truth, it's likely to be a short-term win for the Auburn Hills automaker, but it's a trend worth watching over the long term, too. For one thing, General Motors' latest-generation truck launch certainly hasn't been without issues. And as Pickuptrucks.com notes, Ram sold more 3/4-ton trucks and more 1-ton trucks than Chevy last year, and they are gaining ground in half-ton models, as well. This is clearly a story developing month-by-month, but it's also clear that Ram truck sales are fueling Chrysler's fortunes more and more.

By Chris Bruce