It looks like we're far from being the only ones who love the new Ram 1500 pickup truck. We, of course, chose it for our 2018 Truck Of The Year just last week, and the sales figures are backing up that choice. The pickup wars rage more intensely than ever, and now reports show that the Ram 1500 is essentially tied in sales with the Chevy Silverado. That's huge news considering that Ram has typically lagged behind Ford and Chevy when it comes to pickup truck sales.
2018 sales figures for December of 2018 actually show the Ram 1500 eclipsing the Silverado.
- Chevy Silverado: 54,424 units sold
- Ram 1500: 60,155 units sold
It will take a lot more for the Ram 1500 to unseat the Ford F-Series pickup trucks (which, ironically are grouped together rather than just reflecting the Ram 1500's direct competitor, the Ford F-150). Ford claims its F-Series is the real market leader, with 909,330 trucks sold over the course of last year. We'd love to see the breakout sales figures of the F-150, which is likely still quite a bit higher than the Ram 1500.
The reasons why the pickup truck wars are hot are because technology, comfort, and style are as high of priorities in this segment as they are in sedans, which are actually selling quite poorly in comparison. Though they still sell in big numbers overall, sales percentages are actually decreasing sharply, and manufacturers are killing them off in droves. There's also much less of a profit margin in sedans than there are in trucks, so the fact that manufacturers are spending more time and money on them makes complete sense. Ram caught onto this and made their 1500 truly class-leading.
Find Local Discounts on the Ram 1500
The current Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn we're testing comes in at a whopping $68,000, which is on par with luxury automobiles, and the interior is about as nice as you could expect. Ram is quite literally the only mainstream pickup truck manufacturer that offers an expansive and responsive 12-inch touchscreen with split-screen functionality. It's a brilliant piece of tech that's a strong reason for the truck's rise in sales.
The notion of a pickup truck that costs $70,000 might have seemed ludicrous just a few years ago, but manufacturers, especially Ram/FCA bet the farm on the fact that these luxury trucks would be a strong draw because of the fact that they were both luxurious and truly capable. They outfitted top trims with premium-grade materials, capacious room, and brilliant technology in order to pull customers away from waning sedans. The move paid off. Now, Ram can truly gloat that they made the right choice.
The fact that trucks are now also much easier to drive thanks to improvements in chassis, weight reduction, and steering means they don't have to feel so ponderous and vague. We've been darting around in traffic and taking tight corners in the Ram 1500, and it's been nearly flawless in that regard. We never thought we'd want to trade in our sedans and small crossovers for a
What's more, FCA was the only one of Detroit's big three that reported an actual increase in full-size pickup sales for Q4 2018. GM, of course, is betting that their new Silverado with its new style will help them regain their original footing. We'll pit them against each other when we get the new Silverado to review for a week. Our bet's still on the Ram 1500. It's just that good.
