Free yourself from the antiquated idea of Ford and Chevrolet running the pickup truck show— for the first time since the 90's Ram has officially passed the Chevy Silverado in sales as of last month.
Ram hasn't beaten Chevrolet since they were badged as Dodges back in August 1999, but with the help of a surge in sales fueled by the first batch of EcoDiesel half-tons they've finally butted their way back into the number two spot. For now.
GM finished this March with a 6.8% sales increase over last year at 42,247 Silverado sold, but Ram managed to eek out a win by 285 units with a total of 42,532 Ram sales last month.
GM spokesman Jim Cain told Automotive News Ram was able to pull off the win by dialing up incentives, but both brands ran truck promotions last month. "The 1980s called. They want their marketing strategy back. It's really easy to deeply discount your truck, mine the subprime market and offer cheap lease deals to buy market share."
Fightin' words for sure! But on the other side, Ram's usually-talkative reps have remained quiet so far. I imagine Ford's people briefly looked over their newspaper and shrugged. But if the EcoDiesel proves to remain a consistent driving force that puts real distance between Ram and Chevrolet, I could see big changes in pickup truck powerplant offerings on the horizon.
Ram pickup trucks had their best March in a decade, with overall sales increasing by 26% over March 2013. Ram Light Duty sales were up 24% and Ram Heavy Duty truck sales increased by 28%.
Of course we can't forget GM still moved more pickups in total; they're at 59,110 for March if you count the 16,863 GMC Sierras they sold. But Ford and Chevrolet have had their heels dug in as America's one-and-two trucks for almost fifteen years, the bowtie has long been the brand to gun for.
Ford remains on the throne with 70,940 F-Series sales last month, and here's where all the American market half-ton trucks are at closing out March:
| March 2014 | March 2013 | % Change | 2014 Total | 2013 Total | % Change | |
| Ford F-Series | 70,940 | 67,513 | 5.1 | 173,358 | 168,843 | 2.7 |
| Ram Pickup | 42,532 | 33,831 | 26 | 96,906 | 77,594 | 25 |
| Chevrolet Silverado | 42,247 | 39,561 | 6.8 | 107,757 | 116,649 | -7.6 |
| GMC Sierra | 16,863 | 13,817 | 22 | 42,213 | 40,796 | 3.5 |
| Toyota Tundra | 11,589 | 9,270 | 25 | 27,402 | 23,580 | 16.2 |
| Nissan Titan | 1,314 | 2,084 | -36.9 | 3,318 | 5112 | -35.1 |
As a side note, it sure looks like it's about time for Nissan to get going on that new Titan.
Remember this moment, folks. You'll always want to remember where you were when Ram finally stuck its horns into the second-strongest American pickup truck sales slot.