For the first time since 1999, Ram pickups have outsold Chevy pickups, but just by a hair. Chevy moved 42,247 units in March, while 42,532 new Rams found owners, a spread of just 285 trucks.
Both companies campaigned high profile sales promotions in March, but according to Automotive News, Ram’s victory came at the cost of cash incentive offers. This prompted GM spokesperson Jim Cain to fire off this sarcastic statement: “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.”
And if taken in conjunction with GMC Sierra sales, which totaled 16,863, General Motors comes out far ahead of Chrysler, but the soundbite of “Ram outsells Chevy” has still enraged a northeastern region Chevy district manager enough to send out an angry email imploring dealers to “take the gloves off and go back and take back what rightfully belongs to every one of you … Silverado truck sales.”
This news comes on the wake of a series of high-profile GM recalls. Included were the newly launched Silverado and Sierra pickups, in which a defective transmission oil line fitting could cause fires, an issue that forced GM to halt sales late last month.
While Chevy and Ram duke it out for second place, the Ford F-Series is still the reigning champ, with 70,940 units sold, a figure that is up 5% from this time last year.
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