Pickup Is No More No.1

The pickup truck's ride as the dominant vehicle on the American roads has come to an end.

For the first time in 16 years, a pickup is not the best-selling vehicle in the monthly industry sales report. Not one, but four cars — Toyota's Corolla and Camry and Honda's Accord and Civic — outsold the stalwart Ford-150 in the May sales report. The last time that happened was December 1992, when the Ford Taurus topped the F-series.

Ford isn't the only manufacturer facing a grim future for its trucks. General Motors said Tuesday it was shifting from a truck and SUV-dominated product mix to more of a car-based mix. It also plans to close four truck plants and possibly sell the Hummer brand.

Toyota, which invested $1.3 billion in a Tundra plant and supplier park in San Antonio, saw sales of its full-size pickup truck fall 31.5 percent in May from a year earlier.

GM said Tuesday its overall sales fell 28 percent in May compared with a year earlier, with a 37 percent decline in truck and SUV sales and a 14 percent drop in car sales.

Ford's overall sales fell 16 percent for the month, while Chrysler's sales were down 25 percent and Toyota's sales slipped 4 percent. Overall sales were down 11 percent compared with last May, according to Autodata Corp.

Honda, riding the wave of customers seeking better fuel efficiency, said its sales rose 18 percent; a 36 percent increase in car sales made up for an 8 percent decline in truck and SUV sales.

Nissan said its sales rose 8 percent, with a 19 percent increase in car sales offsetting a 10 percent decline in trucks.

Toyota announced earlier this year it would scale back production of the full-size Tundra pickup but said there are no plans to cut any full-time jobs at the plants in San Antonio or Princeton, Ind., where the trucks are built.

Industrywide, sales of pickups are down 40 percent in the first five months of 2008 compared with the same period last year. Manufacturers, particularly Ford, GM and Chrysler, once counted on full-size trucks and SUVs to fuel their profits. But the shift to fuel-efficient cars has them scrambling to change their product mixes.

The pickup market is in critical condition, Jesse Toprak of Edmunds.com said.

Carter said Toyota expects that once market conditions improve and the housing industry starts to pick up in 2009 and 2010, the demand for trucks will increase.

But those core pickup drivers have an almost rabid loyalty to the domestic brands, according to analyst Rebecca Lindland of Global Insight, who said she could see the truck segment recovering somewhat.

But she added if there is a recovery, "there are other companies that are in a better position to take advantage of that than Toyota."