Posted on 08/01/2006 5:10:40 PM PDT by SmoothTalker
DETROIT - Amid steep gas prices, Toyota Motor Corp. rode its reputation for fuel-efficient cars to a double-digit sales increase in July and outsold Ford in the U.S. for the first month ever. Honda Motor Co. also reported robust sales.
" At Ford, sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles fell 35.2 percent. Truck sales tumbled 44.8 percent, while cars slipped 6.7 percent. Sales of F-Series pickup trucks, long the country's best-selling vehicle and the company's most important vehicle, shot down 45.6 percent."
" Toyota's sales, meanwhile, soared 11.7 percent, with cars jumping 19.8 percent and trucks up 1.3 percent. The company outsold Ford by more than 17,000 vehicles."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I do believe that there will be standard and heavy duty offerings. Obviously you can't tow 15000 lbs with a Ford F-150 or Chevy 1500. You would need model that was built for extreme application.
You're welcome.
P.S. - I like the new Pilot.
I take pleasure in noting this headline is most certainly a result of my own purchase last evening of a 2007 Toyota Yaris to be used in the vocation of delivering food for a well-known local Italian restaurant opening a new location a week from today. 7/31/06 was a great day to wheel and deal for a Toyota.
A little anecdotal evidence here-last Saturday I took my 16-yo son car shopping. We hit all the dealerships, and the so-called "Big 3" )Chrysler, Ford, Chevy) were abandoned. Really! NO customers at all at either of them when we stopped...
OTOH, the Honda and Toyota dealers were packed-I had trouble finding a place to park at the Toyota place. At the Toyota dealership, ALL the salespeople were busy. At the Honda dealer, there were a few salespeople available, and I got help immediately.
We looked at a Honda Fit, which was sold as we were looking at it! Looked at the 2007 Civic, with which my son and I fell in love! 30 city, 40 highway on a LOADED Civic w/ auto trans.
Saleslady said no deals on the Fit or Civic, but they'd talk turkey on the Accords, Pilots, and CRV's.
All I'm sayin' is; try to beat that Civic at a Chevy, Ford, or Chrysler dealer-can't be done...no wonder GM, Ford & Chrysler are hurting!
As I stated, the 350(Ford), 3500 Dodge,Chevy trucks will have that capacity.Nevertheless the F-150, 1500 Dodge,Chevy have the capacity of towing at 7500 LBS while fully loaded. I have yet to see a Toyota doing this kind of thing.(it is an axle thing)
As a matter of fact, over the weekend I saw a Toyota Tundra V8, loaded with two quads, and equipment and it was squatting!.
Comparing apples and oranges comes to mind!
Um... Nissan's already announced that that's exactly what's coming in 08-09. And it's likely going to have a Cummins Turbo Diesel, since DC is most likely going to use a Mercedes diesel.
Nissan's going to build a Titan 2500 (with Dana HD axles) and by implication a 3500, so there's nothing to worry about there. :)
You might want to reread those manuals. An F-150 loaded to max payload *cannot* legally tow anything.
It's a weight thing. (Trailer tongue weight.)
I drove it for 8 years, about 60 miles a day commuting to work. My son turned 16 and I gave it to him. He drove it HARD for about 3 years while he was in H.S. but never hurt it. Then about 3 years ago, he passed it down to my daughter. She is using it at college in Illinois now.
Well, my baby is 12 and I told her that in 4 years it will be her turn. She is so mad because it'll be about 19 years old and she doesn't want an "old" car. I told her tough, the Honda is built to last forever... LOL! Her turn will come. When gas is $5 gallon she'll thank me ... LOL.
I've been searching for the 4th biggest U.S. car maker.
Since I can't find the figures, I feel that Chrysler shouldn't be part of the "Top 3" since that would imply competition, whereas they really won by default.
Talking about been confused...
Comparing Avalanche/Tahoe long base with Ridgeline is a no, no.{Ridgeline is a car(Pilot)with a hole in the back, not a truck) Tundra and Avalanche totally apart!(Tundra sort of a truck, Avalanche modified long base Tahoe with a quasi truck bed in the rear)
We can argue about that all day long. (who reads the stinking manuals anyway?) Real life test proves it, and I should know it, I work in the business.(trucks mind you)
The cops read the manuals - and they issue tickets.
If you load up to max GVWR, you cannot then attach a trailer - legally.
That said, in the half-ton class the base Nissan Titan beats all but a few of the heavily up-optioned F-150s in terms of payload AND towing.
Ahh, but real life plays otherwise than Car&Driver, Truck Magazine etc. kissing up to the Nissans,Toyotas,Hondas of the world.
I drive upward of 145 miles a day on the Freeway every day, and frankly I have yet to see a Nissan Titan/Toyota Tundra rigged as a work truck, and I mean real construction work truck towing a backhoe to boot.
Plenty of them out here set up for the Lawn Mowers...
I work with 7 OEM Automaker companies at 40 manufacturing locations in US, CAN, MX, JP and UK.
Ford has, by far, the lowest integrity at each location. I'm convinced it's part of the culture. Crooked at every level from Purchasing to Design to Plant-level contacts. They can go under for all I care and we'd all be better off.
Care to speculate?
In terms of GVWR and GCVWR, the Titan beats all but some of the up-optioned F-150s.
There's plenty of them down here in truck country, Dallas. At least one contractor down here has replaced their entire fleet with Titans.
Right now, the Suburban's sales aren't looking so hot.
And right now, looking around, the mix is about 50% imports, 50% domestics in terms of trucks here.
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