Ram pickup outsells Silverado for first time since 1999

[mryan55]

From Automotive News:

DETROIT -- It’s no April Fool’s joke, though General Motors may wish it were.
The Ram pickup outsold the Chevrolet Silverado in March, the first monthly win by the Ram over Chevrolet’s full-sized pickup in nearly 15 years.
The Ram was the second-best seller among full-sized pickups, behind the Ford F-series.
Ram sold 42,532 pickups in March, up 26 percent -- its highest March total since 2007. Chevrolet sold 42,247 Silverados last month, up 7 percent.
Sales of the F-series were up 5 percent to 70,940.
The Ram, then sold under the Dodge brand, last beat the Chevrolet’s full-sized pickup in August 1999. .
GM spokesman Jim Cain dismissed the Ram outselling the Silverado, contending Ram was buying market share with incentives. Both Chevrolet and Ram had truck promotions in March.
“The 1980s called. They want their marketing strategy back,” Cain told Automotive News when asked about Ram outselling Silverado. “It’s really easy to deeply discount your truck, mine the subprime market and offer cheap lease deals to buy market share.”
A Ram brand spokesman declined to comment on GM’s view and said Ram will continue to focus on its products.
The redesigned Silverado, which was named 2014 North American Truck of the Year at the Detroit auto show in January, has been struggling to gain traction in the United States since its introduction last summer.
The Silverado’s March sales were further hampered after dealers were told late in the month to stop selling certain models pending a repair to correct a potential transmission fluid line leak that could result in a fire.
Barclay’s analyst Brian Johnson noted in late February that the Silverado and Sierra redesign for the 2014 model year marked the first time General Motors had lost market share after launching a redesigned pickup.
Analysts said Silverado’s redesign had been conservative and “evolutionary, not revolutionary.” Meanwhile, they credited Ram with offering innovations such as a coil spring suspension, light-duty diesel engine, eight-speed transmission and the Rambox storage system.
Silverado’s sales lead over the Ram has been dwindling steadily for several years.
In 1993, Chevrolet’s pickup outsold what was then its Dodge competitor by nearly 450,000 units as Chrysler prepared to launch its radically restyled, big-rig inspired 1994 Dodge Ram.
By 2013, Silverado’s sales gain over Ram had dwindled to 124,741.

[Lakeshow]

So guys, what were the the incentives on the Rams? Be interesting to see if GM's story holds any truth, or if their marketing department continues to be a huge failure.

[mryan55]

The Ram incentives were nothing out of the ordinary. Significantly less than GM had offered on the outgoing 2013 model and not that much less than the current 2014 Chevy/GMC offering.

In the Great Lakes business center we were at $3,000 on the volume model quad cabs, $5,000 on the volume crew cabs, all contingent with financing with Chrysler Capital.

The marketing department of GM is the true failure here. And I am a GM and Chrysler dealer... so I really don't have reasons to bash either manufacturer.

[Lakeshow]

Originally Posted by mryan55

The marketing department of GM is the true failure here. And I am a GM and Chrysler dealer... so I really don't have reasons to bash either manufacturer.

I agree 100%, been saying it for years. The guys on the ground are what have kept the market share they still have, but they'll never figure that out.

[chryslersrt8]

Regardless of incentives, marketing, qc, etc...as we all know they change all to frequently/ not frequently enough, this is great news for Ram. It will be very interesting to see how Chevy/GMC respond to this news that they have to consider embarrassing.

And Ford better watch this play out and learn.

[tnpartsguy]

Awakening Saturday Morning (March 29th) to a total stop sale on all '14 and '15 trucks and SUVs until an inspection could be done was another reason this happened. The sales difference is what...250 or so? I'd be hard pressed to buy a truck when I drove up and saw every truck on the lot heading to the service department....and this is what...the 4th or 5th recall on the new body style? And the recall fever that GM has right now is overwelming. I'm exhausted just trying to get orders input and SPAC cases set.

[mryan55]

The recall fever may have caused Ram and Silverado to swap places this month, but it still happened... even if it was an unfair advantage. Haha.