World Full Year 2014: Discover the best-selling pickups

The Ford F-Series is still the worldwide best-selling pickup truck.

See the Top 1000 best-selling models in the world in 2014 here.

* See the Top 15 best-selling pickups in the world by clicking on the title *

After detailing the best-selling SUVs in the world, we now look at the most popular pick-up trucks. The world of pickups is divided in two: North America and the rest of the world. Pickups that are sold and popular in North America are vastly different to the ones en vogue outside that region – most of them produced in Thailand. This world structure has a lot to do with the so called “chicken tax” that pushed Japanese manufacturers to start producing vehicles in the U.S. and put an end to affordable imports. The Toyota Hilux for example was sold in the U.S. until 1995 when it was replaced by the Tacoma. The Ford F-Series remains the best-selling pickup truck in the world and by a large margin, almost exclusively due to its North American sales and totalling 901.177 units. Even though it is currently under threat from the Chevrolet Silverado (#3 in the world in 2014) in the US and the Ram Pickup (#4 worldwide in 2014) in Canada, it should easily retain its title in 2015.

The Toyota Hilux is #2, even though it ranks #1 in 45 countries (2015 model shown).

In fact, the Toyota Hilux, #2 worldwide with 648.900 sales despite ranking #1 in 45 countries in 2014, is the only non-U.S. pickup in the Top 5. The Ford F-Series (-1%), Chevy Silverado (+9%), Ram Pickup (+21%) and GMC Sierra (+10%) encircle it, a spectacular demonstration of how singular North America’s love of pickup truck is at the moment, these four nameplates generating over 95% of their worldwide sales in just two markets: the U.S. and Canada. The rest of the world prefers the Hilux (#2), Isuzu D-Max (#6), Ford Ranger (#8) while the Nissan Navara (#10) is the only model present in both the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Wuling Rongguang Pickup in Mohe, China.

There is a third force flexing its arms: China. Even though pickup trucks are banned in most Chinese cities, this segment is the one with the biggest untapped potential, as I detailed in my STRATEGY article “Where is China headed?”. Wuling Pickups are up a splendid 25% and two spots on 2013 to #7 with 219.466 sales but aren’t typically the type of pickups that can conquer the world. The Great Wall Wingle may be down 12% to 114.819 units but it’s the proof that Chinese manufacturers are starting to be really good at producing Thailand-style pickups that could endanger Japanese manufacturers in Africa for example. Also, if and when the city ban for pickups is removed in China, we will see a lot more of them in the Top 15 worldwide best-sellers…

See the Top 1000 best-selling models in the world in 2014 here.

Full Year 2014 Top 15 best-selling SUVs in the world below.