Slowing pickup truck sales hurt profits (Down 15.7%)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14488255/

Tom Wright's dark-blue GMC Sierra Extended Cab pickup is 12 years old, but so far he's dismissed any thought of replacing it. Although it has 165,000 miles on it, Wright says times are a little too slow in the carpentry business to replace the truck, which he uses for work and to haul around his family.

Much to the detriment of Detroit's Big Three, people like Wright are delaying truck purchases, cutting into profits and forcing Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group to idle some assembly lines.

Pickup sales overall are off 15.7 percent in the first seven months of the year from the same time last year.

Sales of Ford's F-series pickups, the highest-selling vehicles in the nation, are down 12.3 percent. The No. 2 seller, the Chevrolet Silverado, is off 20.1 percent as the company changes production to a new model. Dodge's Ram line is down 11.7 percent.

[purduejake]

1. Maybe they should focus on efficiency.

I couldn't imagine having to gas those things up.

[L0oniX]

2. F150's can go die!

[smtpgirl]

3. Sorry to say that is the problem of the big 3

they have a republican focus, forget about tommorrow, what about today, no forward thinking, that's what got them in trouble.

Myself, spoke to a friend today, vowed off American cars AGAIN.

I owned foreign cars until 1995, what a dumbass I am, own an American car now.

Shopping for a Honda Civic, Scion tC or Acura RSX now!!

[kysrsoze]

4. I really like how they say people are just "delaying" their truck purchase

If they are buying vehicles, people are buying cars. GM and Ford suck. They so badly want people to buy big trucks, but the public isn't. They were STUPID not to anticipate this shift, which resulted from rising gas prices that started their upward trend 6 years ago.

[sofa king]

5. As if a Texas oilman stealing the election wasn't a wee bit of warning.

Meanwhile, the Japanese saw the writing on the wall and started perfecting hybrids, to the point where they're now years ahead of the Americans (and that rolling electrical outlet that GMC calls a "hybrid" is a neat idea, but it doesn't count).

I will say this, though. I don't think the automakers are necessarily stupid. I think they're planning to cash in on the dearth of sales by in the form of free government subsidies. Why pay for R&D and retooling when Uncle Sam will come running to the rescue? Plus, if they're ahead of the game, they won't have a shot at raiding the employee pension fund and crushing the unions.