Market Insight: Big utes ride high

RAM and Chevrolet are riding high with record sales for utes by both manufacturers in May and showing steep inclines in annual figures since launch.

In the big 4x4 Utility bracket, Ram’s 1500 model scored 2705 sales year-to-date May and 696 for the month. Together with siblings the 2500 and 3500, Ram sales were up 33 per cent on the first five months of 2022.

Chevrolet had 748 sales of its Silverado in the year-to-date data with 230 in May while its bigger brother, the Silverado HD, scored an additional 84 sales. It’s also up 33 per cent on last year.

By comparison, Jeep’s ute, the Gladiator, fell 51.7 per cent in sales for May compared with the same month in 2022. It moved 343 units in May, reversing a trend that it set when first launched in 2020.

It’s not as if the Gladiator has performed badly but more about availability. Gladiator sales from launch in 2020 to last year are up almost 60 per cent. Last year it outsold its stable mate, the Wrangler, by 83 units.

Gladiator aside, the strong upward trend for the smallest Ram and Chevrolet models augurs well for the impending introduction of right-hand drive versions of the Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra.

Total sales for Jeep’s five models for the first five months of 2023 were 2014 units, down 2776 (down 27.4 per cent) on the same period in 2022.

This compares with Ram’s total of its three models at 2984 units and the Chevrolet brand with 1261 sales (up 47.3 per cent on 2022), although the Corvette accounted for 122 of those sales.

In May, Ram not only outsold Jeep (448 sales) but also Honda (814) and Skoda (691).

Both the Toyota Tundra and Ford F-150 will be imported and have conversions done in Australia, replicating the process of Ram and Chevrolet with their ‘remanufacturing’ done by Walkinshaw Automotive Group.

Ford is expected to launch the F-150 later this year and the Tundra is expected to become available in the first half of 2024. There is currently a trial underway in Australia of 300 Tundras to test for Australian modifications.

The F-150 will be converted by Thai-based global vehicle specialist RMA Automotive that has a facility in Melbourne, while the Tundra – which can share suspension and steering parts with the LandCruiser 300 – is expected to be converted by Walkinshaw.

Meanwhile Ram is considering a smaller ute, the Dakota, for Australia. The Dakota, which is rumoured to be under consideration as a right-hand drive build from the US factory, would compete with the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.

Dakota could be available in Australia by late 2025 or early 2026.

Chevrolet only has its Ranger-size Colorado available in some markets and is not under consideration for Australia.