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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.

Mercury rises around sexy Cougar pack

With a slightly larger body and a more luxurious interior, the Mercury Cougar doesn't carry quite as much cachet among pony car enthusiasts as the venerable Ford Mustang. But don't try to make that argument around Cougar super-fan Mike Brown. Since starting his Cougar collecting in 1988, Brown has become an absolute expert on the model, and he claims to have owned 400 of the Mercury pony cars in that time. Ten of them are in his collection today, not to mention a heap of spare parts in the garage. Check out some of the rarer members of Brown's fleet and allow him to tell you about them in this interesting interview from Electric Federal.

Ford Fiesta banned from SCCA autocrossing because of rollover risk

Autocross can be a great way to break into motorsports, especially at SCCA events that allow run-of-the-mill, street-legal vehicles to be run through the cones in parking lots across the country. But while a wide array of vehicles are eligible, not every one is. And now the Ford Fiesta has been removed from the list of qualifying vehicles in the Sports Car Club of America's Street category for solo events. The removal of the Fiesta was publicized in the latest issue of the SCCA's Fastrack News bulletin, which stated that, due to roll-over risk, Fiestas "do not meet the requirements and are to be removed" from the HS category of eligible vehicles. H Stock (or HS for short) is the lowest category of vehicles certified by the SCCA for use in sanctioned events. The disqualification applies to Fiestas from the 2011 model year onwards, and does not apply to the Fiesta ST, which remains eligible. Of course the Fiesta isn't the only model deemed ineligible for SCCA autocross events. According to Jalopnik, other small hatchbacks and crossovers including the Dodge Caliber, Fiat 500, Scion xB and iQ, Nissan Juke and Mini Countryman are also prohibited from competition. We've reached out to both Ford and the SCCA for clarification on the issue, and will issue an update if and when we receive any substantial information.