Rising Gas Prices Hurt Truck Sales

The New York Times reports:

As with sport utilities, the popularity of pickups is in decline. Sales have dropped, rebates and other incentives are climbing, even for companies like G.M. and Toyota that have the newest models on the market…truck sales are down 5 percent so far this year from a weak market last year. That is more than double the overall decline in industry sales, which are down 2 percent this year.

Because of the decline, automakers expect pickups to post their lowest sales this year since the beginning of the decade, even with incentives.

“We used to have a lot of people getting out of an S.U.V. and into a truck,” said Scott Satiritz, general sales manager at Massey-Yardley Chrysler Dodge in Hobe Sound, Fla. Now, he said, “the average customer is not buying a pickup.”

“They’re into economy cars because of the mileage. Gas prices have really hurt.”