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Sales: Pickup Trucks Rule Again in June 2013

2014 gmc sierra front

United States automotive market continues to be red hot, and the pickup truck segment continues to lead.  The first half of 2013 is behind us and the eight truck nameplates listed below together comprise over 1,000,000 units of sales.

And the competition is only heating up.  All new 2014 Silverado and Sierra are starting to hit the dealerships now.  The redesigned 2014 Tundra is coming within a couple of months.  Ram has just introduced the light duty EcoDiesel and 2014 Ram heavy duty.  Ford and Nissan are not to be outdone.  Ford is preparing the redesigned F-150 and Nissan is doing testing on the next Titan.

All pickups showed huge double digit growth in the month of June, with the exception of aging Frontier and Titan.  The all new Titan cannot come soon enough. We have caught Nissan testing the truck in the wild, but there is still no official word on it.  We also do not have any solid information on the next Frontier.

2014 ford f-150 tremor sport truck

GMC Sierra showed the best June year-over-year growth at 32.8%, which the Silverado has the highest YTD growth at 24.7%.  The Ford F-Series is still the king of the hill after all these years.  It has more than a third of the whole pickup market and already sold 367,486 units this year.

Pickup Truck June 2013 Sales Chart

June 2013 # June ’13 / ’12 % YTD 2013 # YTD ’13 / ’12 %
Chevrolet Silverado 43,259 28.9%  242,586 24.7%
Ford F-Series 68,009 23.6% 367,486 22.0%
GMC Sierra 16,568 32.8% 87,633 20.1%
Nissan Frontier 5,413 -4.2% 29,316 -0.2%
Nissan Titan 1,300 -44.3% 8,852 -17.1%
Ram 29,644 24%  170,319 23.0%
Toyota Tacoma  14,023 18.2%  81,188 20.9%
Toyota Tundra  9,759 12.3% 51,565 14.3%

 

Andre Smirnov
Andre Smirnov

Andre Smirnov is a life-long automotive enthusiast, writer, reporter, and software engineer. He has been a contributor at TFLcar since 2011. When not working or spending time with the family – you can find him tinkering in the garage or simply ‘going for a drive’.

Tow Test: 2012 Infiniti QX56 takes a Boat for 0-60 MPH

2012 infiniti qx56

The 2012 Infiniti QX56 is a big, powerful and luxurious SUV built to haul people and a lot of their stuff.

In fact, this vehicle with 400 HP and over 400 lb-ft of torque has a towing capacity that exceeds 8000 pounds.

But what does that mean in the real world where the tires hit the road? We decided to find out by putting the Infiniti QX56 to the TFLcar towing test. Keep in mind: we do a majority of our 0 to 60 mph testing at over 5,200 feet elevation. At that altitude, naturally aspirated engines suffer power loss. Up to 30% of the engines horsepower evaporates. It’s hard to tell exactly how much power is lost as ambient temperature, road conditions and climate can have an effect on the power too.

We hooked up a 5500 pound boat to the back of the Infiniti QX56 to see how fast it would accelerate from 0-60 MPH @ 1 mile above sea level.

And of course just to see compare the difference we also tried the same 0-60 MPH run with our the boat.*

How did the big Infiniti QX56 fare?

Check out this video to find out.

* A quick note on the boat. We only used the ski boat for dramatic/demonstration purposes only – no ski boats were harmed in the making of this video.

 

Andre Smirnov
Andre Smirnov

Andre Smirnov is a life-long automotive enthusiast, writer, reporter, and software engineer. He has been a contributor at TFLcar since 2011. When not working or spending time with the family – you can find him tinkering in the garage or simply ‘going for a drive’.

Tow Test: 2013 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X goes for 0-60 MPH with a Boat (Episode 1)

2013 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X Pickup 0-60 MPH Towing Test
2013 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X Pickup 0-60 MPH Towing Test

The 2013 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X Pickup is both a work truck and a mid-sided all around run-about for many buyers.

The Nissan Frontier Crew Cab has a maximum towing capacity of 6100 pounds.

With a powerful 4.0L V6 engine that puts out 261 HP and 281 lb-ft of torque the Nissan Frontier is not only ready to go offroad but perhaps more importantly to tow a boat.

We decided to find out just how well the 2013 Nissan Frontier serves as a towing vehicle with another fun and informative TFLtruck 0-60 MPH towing test.

Can this mid-sized pickup tow a XL sized load. You’ll have to watch this 1st part of the 0-60 MPH towing test to find out.

Watch the final (Episode 2) to find out the rest.

Pikes Peak Super-Turbo Semi Freightliner Race Truck Explained

Pikes Peak Super-Turbo Semi Freightliner Race Truck Explained
Pikes Peak Super-Turbo Semi Freightliner Race Truck Explained

A few days ago we posted THIS short video of the Banks Super-Turbo Semi Freightliner Race truck as it raced up the 2013 Pikes Peak International Hill climb.

In the wet, the 2800 hp and 5000 lb-ft of torque Freightliner Race Truck barely clung to the road as the rear wheels tried to tear up the mountain and trucks tires.

A few days before the race we caught up with Gale Banks, who explained the thinking and engineering behind installing a turbo, a supercharger, intercoolers, and even methanol Injection system into this monster truck.

Check out this entire interview to get to know this monster truck a little better.

2013 Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab Pickup 0-60 MPH Towing Review

2013 Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab Pickup 0-60 MPH Towing Review
2013 Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab Pickup 0-60 MPH Towing Review

The 2013 Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab Heavy Duty Pickup is built to tow.

In fact according to Ram this diesel mobster dually with 850 lb-ft or torque can tow up to 30,000 pounds.

That’s enough weight to need a commercial truckers license in most states.

In this first TFLtruck video review we test the 2013 Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab to see how fast it will pull a 17,000 pound horse trailer from 0-60 MPH with the help of our friend Kent from the website Mr.Truck.com.

We figure that if it can easily tow a horse trailer at a mile above sea level it will also tow at sea level.

This is part 1 of our series of tests of this heavy duty truck.

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