Is it really pain at the pump?

With nightly news continually telling us how painful every fill-up is, one would think that consumers would be quickly scared of vehicles with big fuel tanks and appetites. So far however higher gas prices have not slowed down light truck sales in the US with every full size pickup model in March outperforming its February results by a good margin even with gas up over half a dollar a gallon on average nationwide in that time period.

February in blue and March in Red

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Pickup Sales Undeterred By Rising Gas Prices

Even with gas prices rising across America pickup sales appear to be immune for the time being. Since the first of the year gas prices have increased over 20% amid rising crude oil prices due to instability in the Middle East. Nevertheless, over the past three months pickup sales have been gradually increasing. Take a look below to see the first quarter sales trend for the sixth full size pickups available on the market today. Aside from the GMC Sierra all of the pickups have increased their sales successively every month in the quarter. Ford and Dodge have done particularly well increasing their sales by 49 and 79 percent respectively. At this point in time it appears that pent up demand and improving credit availability are more powerful motivators in the market than higher prices at the pump. Only time will tell if pickup sales take a dive with gas already over four dollars in some parts of the country and rising elsewhere.

Chart Source