Toyota Tacoma Sales Up By 35 Percent Just Ahead of New Ford Ranger Launch

The all-new U.S.-spec Ford Ranger pickup truck is just about to drop. Ford's new configurator is up and production is scheduled to begin in the coming month or so. If there is any evidence that Toyota Tacoma shoppers are holding off buying a new truck to get a Ranger it sure isn't reflected in the most recent sales data.

Toyota worked very hard to increase its Tacoma production. The company went to three shifts, expanded its production footprint in two countries (Mexico and USA) to build more Tacomas, and has reaped the benefits of those production capability expansions. In August, Toyota sold 23,534 Tacomas. That is a whopping 35% increase over last August, which was a great month back then. Prior to the expansions, Toyota could only ship about 18,000 Tacomas in a good month.

Just to give readers a comparison to that number, Nissan had a flat month of sales this past August, selling almost exactly as many Frontiers as it did in August of 2017. The number for August was 4,573. Toyota outsold Nissan by five to one.

GM quit publishing monthly sales figures earlier this year. Its lackluster gains in some areas such as electric vehicles were becoming a bit of an embarrassment for the company. Therefore, we don't have an August sales figure to compare to the Tacoma's. However, in the last month that GM did report sales, it had a good month for trucks. GM reported a three-month total of about 41,000 Colorados sold, or an average sales per month of about 13,700 units. A little more than half the Tacoma's August rate of sales.

The Ford Ranger may have a hard time outselling the class-leading Tacoma. Check out our projections for the Ranger's sales in 2019.