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FULL-SIZE TRUCK SALES 2022: GM, FORD, AND RAM ARE ALL DOWN

The Supply Chain Storm Continues To Bear Down On The Detroit Three’s Highest Selling And Most Profitable Vehicles

2023 Ford F-150 Heritage Edition

2022 has proved to be another hangover year when it came to full-size truck sales. Challenging automakers through the year continued to be constrained inventories that stemmed from supply chain shortages that continue from two years ago. As such, sales for the Ford F-Series, Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Ram pickup trucks were all down across the board, but not without signs of hope for an improved 2023. Here we’ll take a closer look at 2022 full-size truck sales numbers, and what to expect for the coming year.

Image copyright Mattheus Pach, Muscle Cars & Trucks.

2022 Full-Size Pickup Truck Sales: Details

The Ford F-Series saw a significant drop of 9.9% compared to 2021, selling 653,957 units. Despite the dip, the F-Series line of trucks (which includes the F-150, Super Duty, and larger commercial medium duty trucks like the F-750) outsold all of its rivals.

General Motors had the overall win, however, selling 754,876 pickup trucks in 2022, which is down 1.8% compared to last year. Of that total, 513,354 units were for the Chevrolet Silverado, which decreased by just 1.2% compared to 2021. Meanwhile, the GMC Sierra sold 241,522 vehicles in 2022; by comparison, the Sierra saw 248,924 units sold the prior year. Over at Stellantis, Ram Trucks sold 468,344 pickups, a 17.8% decrease over 2021 sales, where they sold 569,388 units, with every month in the red.

As for new electric entries into the pickup truck segment, the Ford F-150 Lightning sold 15,617 units during its inaugural year. Meanwhile, the GMC Hummer EV truck had a total of 854 trucks sold. That’s specifically for the First Edition, that number will likely increase for 2023 by some margin as the lower trim orders will be heading to the assembly line sometime this year to be fulfilled, though by how much remains to be seen. Finally, specific Rivian R1T sales numbers have yet to be reported, but we’ll likely see those at the company’s next earnings call.

Including Toyota Tundra and Nissan Titan, a total of 1,987,524 full-size trucks were sold for the 2022 calendar year. For comparison, 2021 saw 2,173,456 trucks sold, bringing the total percentage loss to -8.55%. But there are signs of recovery for 2023.

2023 Ram TRX Havoc Edition
Image via Ram Trucks

A Closer Look At The Numbers Shows A Fourth-Quarter Rally

Likely the biggest issue for lower sales figures in 2022 has to be the ongoing microchip shortage, with GM and Ford seeing its biggest sales losses in the first half of the year, eventually closing on a high note as the industry gets supply chain issues under control. As we outlined in our extensive breakdown of muscle car sales for 2022, automakers can’t sell what they can’t build. It’s expected that sales numbers will rise in 2023 as a result of sorted out supply kinks and the return of incentives despite high interest rates and inflation headwinds.

For instance, Good Car Bad Car registers that four of six months between July and December 2022 were positive for the Chevrolet Silverado, which posted zero sales gains between January and June of 2022. The GMC Sierra was green only in the fourth quarter of 2022. The Ford F-150, after observing a heavy sales drop of nearly 50 percent in March, was marginally positive in May, June, July and December of 2022. The only American-branded truck that wasn’t able to recover at the end of the year was Ram.

2023 ford super duty payload torque horsepower towing f-250 f-350 f-450
Image via Ford

Refreshed Products On The Way

Helping entice buyers into a new full-sized truck purchase are several updated models and new variants. At General Motors, the first-ever Chevrolet Silverado 1500 ZR2 Bison and GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X AEV Edition look to dominate just about any kind of terrain they come across, while updated Silverado HD and Sierra HD trucks launch next month. Over at Ford, the new 2024 Super Duty will go on sale in the first half of this year, while a refreshed Ram HD is also due for the 2024 model year.

Conclusion

2022 proved to be a challenging year for full-size pickup truck sales in the US market due to slim inventory stemming from the global microchip shortage and unfavorable pricing/financing. However, Q4 showed signs of recovery, with most brands putting a stop to the bleeding to finish with at least a positive December. As automakers continue to fix their respective supply chain issues, look for 2023 full-size truck sales to recover from the year prior, with improved inventories and updated products to attract customers of varying budgets.

2023 Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 Bison NAIAS Detroit Auto Show
Image copyright Mattheus Pach, Muscle Cars & Trucks

Written by Zac Quinn

Zac's love for cars started at a young age, after seeing the popular Eleanor from Gone In 60 Seconds. From there, fascination and enthusiasm blossomed and to this day the Ford Mustang remains a favorite. His first job started out detailing cars, but also provided the opportunity to work on restoration including an 1968 Ford Mustang, Pontiac Firebird, and a C3 Corvette, though he left that job before further work and experience could be had. From there, he was a detailer at a car dealership before quitting that job to try and finish college.

Much of his free time while studying was spent watching YouTube videos regarding new cars, or off-roading. 4WD247 is a personal favorite channel which rekindled a dying flame in car enthusiasm, now tailored towards trucks and SUVs and the fun that can be had building up an overlanding rig, and going on adventures, though, that chapter remains unwritten for the time being.

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