Industry News: Europeans Fall Under the Spell of Trucks

[William Maley]

Europe is starting to develop a case of pickup truck fever. According to data from JATO Dynamics, 80,300 trucks were sold in Europe in the first half of this year. This pales in comparison to the 1.1 million full-size and 216,194 midsize trucks sold in the U.S. in the same timeframe. But sales in Europe are climbing. LMC Automotive says sales of trucks in Europe are up 19 percent and they predict sales will crest 200,000 next year.

Why this steady rise in pickups? According to Automotive News Europe, it comes down to the lack of alternatives and government regulations.

"One of the reasons is usage. Previously people used large, body-on-frame SUVs to tow boats or horse trailers. Nowadays, with high regulations and pressure [to move to] small engines with dual-clutch automatic gearboxes, it's not really possible to use SUVs to tow. People with these hobbies need to have a truck," said Renault's product director of pickups, Anton Lysyy.

Take for example the Land Rover Defender. When production of this off-road icon ended last year, many buyers switched to the likes of the Ford Ranger as it offered the off-road capability of the Defender.

Truck manufacturers have taken notice of this increase in sales and are starting to offer more extras. That includes new infotainment systems, active safety equipment, and a long list of accessories such as hardtops. New manufacturers are wanting to take a slice of this growing market as well. Mercedes-Benz will soon be launching their X-Class, while Renault announced their Alaskan truck (both models based on the Nissan Navara). PSA Group revealed earlier this year that it would be working with Chinese automaker Changan Automobile on developing a new truck that would be sold in China and Europe in 2020. 

Source: Automotive News Europe (Subscription Required)

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[G. David Felt]

I hope Ford, GM and Ram take advantage of the growth too. Very cool.

[daves87rs]

I see the smaller trucks doing well over there...

[smk4565]

Ford has a European footprint, they also have an international Ranger right now.  I could see Ford selling a Ranger in Europe and doing well with it.  They already have gas and diesel engines for the Euro market to use without having to come up with anything new to meet regulations.

[Robert Hall]

I'm pretty sure the international Ranger has been sold in Europe for years....

[William Maley]

8 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

I'm pretty sure the international Ranger has been sold in Europe for years....

Ford has been selling a small pickup in Europe since the 70's, beginning with badge engineering the Mazda B-Series as the Courier. The Ranger nameplate wouldn't arrive till about 1998.

[balthazar]

23 hours ago, William Maley said:

LMC Automotive says sales of trucks in Europe are up 19 percent and they predict sales will crest 200,000 next year.

Kind of amazing how different auto markets can be.
For perspective, lil' GMC first surpassed 200K units in 1977 (223K).

[G. David Felt]

7 hours ago, balthazar said:

Kind of amazing how different auto markets can be.
For perspective, lil' GMC first surpassed 200K units in 1977 (223K).

Some countries just take more time to get up on trends than others. Heck, Asia is like 30 years behind us still.

[riviera74]

Europe did not have many truck sales because their roads are way too small AND most Europeans have no need for the hauling and towing our trucks have.  If the European truck trend is really true, then why doesn't Sergio sell midsize trucks over there?  I know why GM ditched Europe, but a Colorado/Canyon might be a decent seller there.  I personally doubt any of the Euro automakers will build a real pickup that can meet European needs and actually profit from that.

[balthazar]

31 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Europe did not have many truck sales because their roads are way too small AND most Europeans have no need for the hauling and towing our trucks have. 

A MB s-class is bigger in width & length than a Ford Ranger. And there's a plethora of big rigs criss-crossing Europe every day. It's not the age-old inner city street widths; it's purely a home market demographic.

[William Maley]

On 11/11/2017 at 9:50 PM, riviera74 said:

Europe did not have many truck sales because their roads are way too small AND most Europeans have no need for the hauling and towing our trucks have.  If the European truck trend is really true, then why doesn't Sergio sell midsize trucks over there?  I know why GM ditched Europe, but a Colorado/Canyon might be a decent seller there.  I personally doubt any of the Euro automakers will build a real pickup that can meet European needs and actually profit from that.

 

Fiat started selling one last year called the Fullback, a rebadged version of the Mitsubishi L200 (the truck seen in the photo above).

[G. David Felt]

41 minutes ago, William Maley said:

Fiat started selling one last year called the Fullback, a rebadged version of the Mitsubishi L200 (the truck seen in the photo above).

That is one hideous truck, I would not wish that on anyone especially here in the US.  

[Robert Hall]

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

That is one hideous truck, I would not wish that on anyone especially here in the US.  

Change the grille and brand it as a Ram Dakota...(I wonder how much work it would take to federalize)

[G. David Felt]

1 minute ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Change the grille and brand it as a Ram Dakota...(I wonder how much work it would take to federalize)

It looks like the bed would not hold much weight as it really hangs over the back wheels. Just something about the whole side profile makes me want to  

[frogger]

It would sell well here if priced cheap cheap cheap.

[G. David Felt]

30 minutes ago, frogger said:

It would sell well here if priced cheap cheap cheap.

True it would have to be very cheap to sell here as it looks cheap.

[Robert Hall]

Since the old Ranger went away,  there have been no truly cheap trucks in the US market, I could see a niche for something like this.