With Q1 in the books, we're seeing the first real 2024 U.S. auto sales figures, and with them, some shakeups in segments where the pecking order was long-ago established. We said in January that the auto industry was returning to a semblance of normalcy after more than three years of supply chain tomfoolery and runaway inflation. Well, there may be a new normal yet.
Customers lined up in droves to buy cars in 2023, making it the best year for auto sales since 2019. Surprise surprise, trucks remained relatively stratospheric. Big trucks, small trucks — even trucks that don't do "truck" stuff. You name it, Americans want it. But what exactly are they buying? Here are the numbers — and why they matter. A lot of the usual suspects are exactly where you'd find them, with the F-Series pickups right up top for the 47th year running.
Here's a look at how things are shaping up for pickups so far in 2024.
Fullsize
Q1 2024 fullsize truck sales:
- Total GM (Silverado + Sierra) – 198,584 (+ 2.3%)
- Ford F-Series (all) – 152,943 (- 10.2%)
- Chevrolet Silverado (all) – 129,987 (+ 2.4%)
- Ram P/U (all) – 89,417 (- 15%)
- GMC Sierra (all) - 68,597 (+ 2.1%)
- Toyota Tundra – 15,337 (+ 41.3%)
- Nissan Titan – 4,145 (+ 2.6%)
Why they matter:
Honestly, the half-ton pickup segment is pretty darned boring. The rankings haven't changed from where they sat at the end of 2023, but there are some year-to-year changes that may be worth keeping an eye on in 2024. There's obviously still plenty of demand for Toyota's nearly-new Tundra; based on these numbers, production is still catching up. GM's Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra combine for the most total pickups sold on a single platform, while Ford claims the crown for the most sold under a single nameplate. As is tradition, we'll leave it to you to sort out who the "real" winner is.
Chevy continues to put daylight between the Silverado and Ram. For a while, Auburn Hills had a tentative hold on the #2 nameplate behind F-Series. No longer. Also: Aww, Titan.
Note: F-Series, Ram, Sierra and Silverado are inclusive of standard (F-150, 1500, et al), medium- (Silverado MD) and heavy-duty (F-250, 2500, et al) models.
Midsize
Q1 2024 midsize truck sales:
- Nissan Frontier – 19,744 (+ 16.6%)
- Chevrolet Colorado – 14,922 (+ 12.6)
- Jeep Gladiator - 12,989 (- 4.0%)
- Toyota Tacoma – 8,310 (- 55.5%)
- GMC Canyon – 5,484 (+ 9.3%)
- Honda Ridgeline – 3,967 (- 22.3%)
- Ford Ranger – 1,918 (- 83.3%)
Why they matter:
The midsize segment has been on a wild ride since the pandemic started but 2024 is throwing that for a loop for different reasons. Long gone are the supply-chain hurdles of the pandemic era; say hello to the churn of model year updates. With this segment rapidly re-expanding and competition becoming healthier, automakers are doing more to differentiate their trucks with each update, and updates mean disruptions in deliveries.
That's kind of a long way of telling Toyota fans not to panic. The Tacoma hasn't been dethroned; the new one is simply in short supply.
The other obvious outlier on this list is the Ford Ranger. Last place is not where we'd expect to find Ford's midsizer, but clearly, retooling for the redesigned truck took its toll on production output. That may have been exacerbated by the UAW strike, but we'll note that GM had no trouble moving plenty of Canyons and Colorados in the same time period despite ongoing quality control issues. Here's hoping Ford is taking its time in the name of improving its own quality.
Compact
Q1 2024 compact truck sales:
- Ford Maverick - 39,061 (+ 81.9%)
- Hyundai Santa Cruz - 3,362 (- 12.0%)
Why they matter:
Wow. Remember compact pickups? Ford sure does. The Maverick is off to a huge start in 2024. At this pace, it's on track to nearly double its 2023 volume (94,058 units total — a nearly 27% production increase from 2022), which was itself the little truck's most successful by far. There isn't much to this segment, but its mere existence is a testament to the popularity of the pickup truck. After all, the Maverick was designed to replace Ford's compact, economical Focus sedan and hatchback. Hyundai's Santa Cruz sales are off a bit from 2023's, but the Korean automaker has an updated version of the truck hitting showrooms this summer.
Electric
Q1 2024 electric truck sales:
- F-150 Lightning - 7,743 (+ 80.4%)
- Rivian R1T - 3,000** ( flat )
- Chevrolet Silverado EV - 1,061 ( new )
- GMC Hummer EV Pickup - 830** (+ ~4,000%)
- Tesla Cybertruck - **
Why they matter:
Electric pickups are still outliers — so much so that their manufacturers don't group them in with their ICE model lines in their sales data. This results in a bit of a hodgepodge of a "segment," but it exists only for the purposes of this analysis; we aren't claiming that these trucks all directly compete with each other. Neither GMC nor Rivian break its truck/SUV sales down in its published figures, so our estimate here is based on executive comments that suggest the SUV/truck production ratio is something around 70/30 and discounting some units to account for van deliveries. Given the company's flat performance, we should be in the ballpark with our estimate of roughly 3,000 RT1s delivered in Q1.
We're not surprised to see Ford in first here, but we're surprised to see it outperforming its 2023 sales so considerably given all of the chatter regarding EV sales of late. Perhaps the demise of the battery-powered truck was somewhat overexaggerated.
As for the Cybertruck, well, Tesla bundles it into its "other" category with the Model S sedan and Model X crossover. Together, they accounted for 17,000 units sold in Q1. Just how many of those were Cybertrucks? We have no earthly idea.
**Unavailable or estimated at time of publication.
