April Data Show Americans Bought More Trucks Than Cars

Market sales of passenger cars may have taken a hit in the United States due to the spread of coronavirus and a plummeting economy, but it doesn’t seem to be the same when it comes to the pickup truck segment.

For the first time in America’s automotive history, overall truck sales have overtaken passenger cars, according to statistics gathered by Autodata Corp.

Bloomberg published a report on the data, saying a total of 186,000 pickup trucks were sold in the U.S. in April compared to the 169,000 passenger cars that found a home. It’s a significant 17,000 difference for a segment that has never taken over the market in the past.

Based on the same data, more than 40 percent of the trucks sold were full-size pickups from Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

For context, however, these numbers are the lowest in the last two decades. The automotive industry suffered huge losses due to the pandemic, with some manufacturers, like Honda, recording as much as 54 percent of the decline in sales.

And although the truck segment overtook passenger cars in terms of sales, 186,000 vehicles sold last month is the lowest it has registered since the beginning of 2019.

Additional statistics released by Cox Automotive also give the public an idea of what the industry has been experiencing in the last couple of months. For April, total car sales plummeted by 53 percent versus the number registered within the same timeframe in 2019.

Currently, total new car sales in America are estimated at around 620,000 for April, a new low since January 2009 when only 655,000 vehicles were sold.

But the good news is that automakers are set to resume production this month, following the easing of stay-at-home orders in several states. Some companies are still offering generous deals to consumers, which is also seen to help boost sales starting the month of May.