America’s love affair with trucks continues

Americans may have been reeling in the face of unprecedented petrol prices in 2008, but the increases didn’t completely shake their love of big pick-up trucks, sales figures just out show.

Petrol was running higher than $US4 a litre at one point – it’s now down around $US1.60 – but Ford’s F-Series full-size pickup truck (pictured) was still the best-selling vehicle in the US, for the 27th year running. Ford sold 515,513, though sales fell 25.4 percent.

And what do you think was the sec best-seller? A compact car? A hybrid?

No, another full-sized pic-up, Chevrolet’s Silverado, at 465,065, hanging on to its runner-up spot. Volumes were down 24.8 percent on 2007.

A third big pick-up, Dodge’s Ram, made it into the top 10. It was ninth on 245,840 sales, but took a percentage hammering, falling 31 percent year-on-year, the sharpest decline among the top 10.

Third best-seller in America last year was the first car, Toyota’s Camry, with sales totalling 436,617.

The only top 10 seller to post a percentage increase was Honda’s sixth-placed Civic which improved 2.1 percent on 2007, with 339,289 sales.

Top 10 best-selling vehicles in the USA, 2008.

1. Ford F-Series (515,513)

2. Chevrolet Silverado (465,065)

3. Toyota Camry (436,617)

4. Honda Accord (372,789)

5. Toyota Corolla (351,007)

6. Honda Civic (339,289)

7. Nissan Altima (269,668)

8. Chevrolet Impala (265,840)

9. Dodge Ram (245,840)

10. Honda CR-V (197,279).