2015 Toyota Tacoma outsells Chevy Colorado by 2.5 to 1 in June
May was the month that both the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and the 2015 Toyota Tacoma both squared off in a full-capacity sales fight. Chevy and Toyota both had added a third shift to their factories producing the popular mid-sized trucks. Now at their full production capability for the vehicles, Toyota is kicking Chevy’s butt in monthly sales. In June, Toyota extended its sales advantage significantly.
June Sales Tacoma Vs. Colorado
Generally, automakers compare their monthly sales to the same month in the prior year. That evens out any seasonality effects. However, for the 2015 Chevy Colorado there were no sales in June 2014. So we can instead look at the new truck’s monthly sales as a curve. Until last month, that curve was trending up. However, in June Chevy sold just 6,558 Colorados, down about 25% from the 8,881 Colorados Chevy sold in May. This may be the leveling off of that truck’s monthly sales rate, or Chevy may have had some growing pains that prevented more sales due to lack of inventory. The truck has been on sale now for about nine full months, so the capacity issues are becoming less of a factor.
Toyota for its part was also down slightly. In June Toyota sold 15,959 2015 Tacomas. That is down from the 17,520 Tacomas Toyota sold in May. So the Tacoma outsold the Colorado by 2.5 to 1 in June. Toyota’s slight drop in Tacoma sales is not as much of a mystery. The Tundra is built on the same line and sold well in June.
The Nissan Frontier, at 4,437, was down about 1,000 units compared to May or to June 2014. The GMC Canyon at 2,532 was down about 400 units compared to May. The upshot of these numbers is that Toyota’s market share in the mid-size truck market is not just solid but improving. This with a very old design due to be replaced with the all-new 2016 model in a month or two.