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Coronavirus shakes up America's truck market: GM outselling Ford and Ram

FCA, Ford and General Motors joined the rest of the U.S. auto industry in taking heavy volume hits due to coronavirus-related shortages of both cars and customers. The saying goes that a rising tide lifts all boats; it stands to reason, then, that a falling one would have the opposite effect.  However, as we learned Thursday, the automotive market can behave in unpredictable ways. While the F-Series remained the best-selling nameplate in Q1, GM's full-size trucks are now outselling Ford's again for the first time in years, and with this upward thrust from the General, FCA's Ram was unceremoniously booted out of a hard-earned second place.  While late-March sales declines hit just about every major automaker in one way or another, the model-by-model results weren't nearly so uniform. And because the market tends to be a zero-sum game, for every winner, there generally has to be a loser.  In this case, that winner was GM, and its rise had to come at the expense of another automaker, in this case, Ford. F-Series sales dropped 13.1 percent in the first quarter of 2020, while sales of GM's full-sized Silverado and Sierra surged nearly 28% in the same period. FCA's Ram lineup managed a steady-as-she-goes 7% increase. All-in, GM finished the quarter with 197,743 full-size trucks sold to Ford's 186,562. Here's the full breakdown: Ford F-Series: 186,562  Chevrolet Silverado*: 144,734 Ram P/U: 128,805 GMC Sierra: 53,009 *includes 1,036 Medium Duty sales Things are a but murkier in the midsize segment, where the Chevy Colorado slipped 36% to just 21,430 units sold — just a few hundred better than the slow-selling Ford Ranger's Q1 numbers. The GMC Canyon experienced an almost identical slide, finishing the quarter with just 4,483 units sold. For perspective, Jeep sold more than 15,000 Gladiators and Toyota's midsize Tacoma slipped less than 8%, finishing the quarter with nearly 54,000 sales.  We suspect this discrepancy in full- and mid-size truck sales comes from shifting incentives. Ford, GM and FCA would like to keep selling bigger trucks because there's far more profit margin built into their list prices. Even with tens of thousands of dollars in manufacturer money on the hood, big trucks still make money.  Since these automakers report quarterly, we won't get another good look at these numbers until July, but if you thought that 2019 represented the new normal for U.S. auto sales, well, think again.

GM resumes production of its 3.0-liter turbodiesel straight-six

General Motors temporarily stopped taking orders for trucks and SUVs equipped with the 3.0-liter Duramax turbodiesel six-cylinder engine in August 2021 due to a supplier shortage. Reports claimed the pause would last through 2021, but the engine is already back in production. Enthusiast website GM Authority learned from sources inside General Motors that the straight-six is once again coming off the assembly line at the Flint Engine Plant in Flint, Michigan. There's no official word on precisely what the problem was linked to and whether it was related to the on-going chip shortage that's wreaking havoc across the automotive industry. All we know is that the pause lasted for about two weeks. Called LM2 internally, the six is available in Chevrolet's Tahoe, Suburban, and Silverado 1500 and in GMC's version of these trucks. It's also an option in the Cadillac Escalade. It develops 277 horsepower at 3,750 rpm and a V8-like 460 pound-feet of torque at 1,500 rpm in every application, and it allows these big behemoths to post surprising fuel economy numbers. Fitted to a rear-wheel-drive Tahoe, the Duramax returns 21 mpg in the city, 28 mpg on the highway, and 24 mpg in a combined cycle, figures that make it more efficient than a Blazer. Demand for the diesel-powered trucks is relatively high. While the shortage undoubtedly took a toll on sales, the Duramax represented 8% of Suburban sales and 6% of Tahoe sales in May 2021. There are no other diesel-burning full-size SUVs available new so they have the market to themselves. On the truck side, Ram still makes the EcoDiesel available on some 1500 trims but Ford abandoned the segment. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe RST View 24 Photos Chevrolet GMC Truck SUV Diesel Vehicles

GM's Reuss predicts 2016 Chevy Camaro will outperform Ford Mustang in every way

We aren't going to be seeing the next-generation Chevrolet Camaro until next month. But even though we know when we're going to see the new muscle car, it's totally unclear whether Chevy will dole out technical details. That means we can't answer the latest version of the age-old question: Camaro or Ford Mustang? Not surprisingly, General Motors North America President Mark Reuss has already stated his position, saying he was "very confident" that the sixth-generation Camaro will be faster, more agile and more efficient than the Ford. Reuss made his comments after saying he drove the new Camaro back-to-back with the Mustang the week prior. Reuss' statement came in a conversation with Fox News about the 2016 Camaro where he elaborated on the car's weight shedding and how it fit into GM's strategy on other new models. "There are some really cool things in the Camaro, that are quite different than the Malibu, [and] CT6," Reuss told Fox. As we reported previously, the Camaro will shed some 200 pounds by switching to aluminum and other lightweight composites for some of its components. With May 16 just over a month away, here's hoping Reuss decides to loose some other details on the next Camaro ahead of its debut. Related Video: