Why Did the Tacoma Outsell the Colorado and Canyon in 2015?

[Gorehamj]

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
1/5/2016

The numbers are in, and the Toyota Tacoma (179,561) outsold the Colorado (84,430) and Canyon (30,077) combined this year. In fact, even if you throw in the Nissan Frontier (30,076) the Tacoma still outsold the combined field of its rivals for 2015. The reason this is so is not because the 2016 Toyota Tacoma is better than the Colorado or Canyon. That is a matter of taste. We're sure it wasn't the 2016 model because even if we subtract out all the 2016 trucks the Tacoma was still the leader with its old 2015 model sales. No, the main reason the Tacoma won the sales race is that Toyota bet more boldly on the growth of mid-size trucks and built more capacity than did GM.

Back in 2014, Toyota new the new GM twins were coming. Toyota has huge respect for GM trucks, and American trucks in general. It knows that GM truck fans are loyal, that GM truck valuations are now close to that of its own trucks (which are still the best for resale overall) and that GM's quality is now on-par with the Toyota trucks. Despite all this respect (and maybe a little healthy fear) Toyota doubled down. It added workers and a third shift to its Tacoma facilities so that if it its truck had buyers the trucks would be on lots.

Are we trying to "diss" GM here? Heck no! GM too was bold. When GM started to create the new Colorado and Canyon many truck followers said that it was dumb. Who wants a truck that cost almost the same as a 1500, but is smaller? With gas prices low, more naysayers chimed in pointing out that the fuel economy of a 1500 is not that different than a V6 Colorado or Canyon, so why will buyers downsize.

This is a great time for all truck makers. With a few notable exceptions (Nissan missed the boat, Honda chose exactly the wrong years not to have any trucks for sale), automakers that focus on trucks are kicking and taking right now.

[newdude]

GM had a low sales estimate when they launched the new twins, my guess is they based it off the lackluster performance of the previous GMT-360 twins. Exceeding their expectations is more than great, the problem is when you add that new product to another assembly plant that produces another product which has seen an uptick (Express/Savana) and then you suddenly can't keep up.

 

We've sold every single one that has been ordered (customer or stock order) except for the three that just showed up over the past 3-4 weeks. So far, no complaints and lots of love.

[MikeNH]

The Taco sells strongly because the Toyota brand as a whole has this undeserved reputation that causes people to blindly buy their products. I owned a 2008 Tacoma and it was a pathetic truck. Literally a Camry on stilts.

[Nargg]

GM definately did not build enough of their new truck. They were hardly any to choose from. And with the Toyota overstock, they were discounting the Tacoma massively. Discounts = sales these days for trucks. And I agree with MikeNH, Toyota quality is a thing of the past.

[Janster]

The Taco sells strongly because the Toyota brand as a whole has this undeserved reputation that causes people to blindly buy their products. I owned a 2008 Tacoma and it was a pathetic truck. Literally a Camry on stilts.

The Tacoma is a great truck and they do have their loyal followers. Same with any brands. Toyota has always had a great reputation for reliability & resale value. I've owned a 2007 for the past 9 years....and it's a great truck. I paid $29,000 for the truck 9 years ago. Trade-in value is between $12k-$13K with 75k miles. Not bad after 9 years.

 

The only thing preventing me from buying a 2016, is the fact they are soooooo limited in options & configurations. The top of the line Tacoma (Limited) still doesn't have power seats and the leather seats are trimmed. There's a lot more where that came from. Granted...The SLT Canyon has a higher price tag for all those extra goodies - at least consumers have that option. With the Tacomas...you don't.

 

So - I'm gonna buy an SLT Canyon and have all my cake and eat it too. I pray that this new truck can 'impress' me in both the reliability & resale department. It has big shoes to fill.

 

So we'll see..... I'm thinking outside of the Toyota box.

[SILVER SLED]

This seems like another example of the once "all knowing" General Motors not knowing and scrambling to get it right. And probably once they get this right it may be too late. I'm curious to see if/once GM ramps up production to keep up, will they offer rebates to make sense money wise to buy a smaller truck.

 

And, it seems Tacoma buyers like Tacomas, and don't compare it with the Tundra, (or any other truck) and not considering price per size as much. But it seems a typical truck buyer will weigh more factors when buying a truck, which often eliminates a Tundra, but makes a full size truck a better buy, whatever it may be. Hope that makes sense.

[BlackZ71Silverado]

Toyota numbers are so high because many of those Tacomas most likely went to their "loyal followers" which sadly include terrorist groups. It seems the Tacoma is their vehicle of choice and has been for quite a long time. GM is not known to support or supply Islamic Terrorists and suicide bombers with vehicles, specifically small pickups. The Taliban has openly stated that they love the Tacoma pickup and have purchased thousands of the Tacomas.

These facts are not something Toyota should be proud of nor include the pickups sold to such groups in their numbers.

 

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-09/terrorists-love-of-toyotas-is-no-mystery

 

https://newrepublic.com/article/122925/why-do-terrorists-love-toyota-tacomas

 

 

Just a couple of known articles to support my post.

[MikeNH]

Toyota numbers are so high because many of those Tacomas most likely went to their "loyal followers" which sadly include terrorist groups. It seems the Tacoma is their vehicle of choice and has been for quite a long time. GM is not known to support or supply Islamic Terrorists and suicide bombers with vehicles, specifically small pickups. The Taliban has openly stated that they love the Tacoma pickup and have purchased thousands of the Tacomas.

These facts are not something Toyota should be proud of nor include the pickups sold to such groups in their numbers.

 

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-09/terrorists-love-of-toyotas-is-no-mystery

 

https://newrepublic.com/article/122925/why-do-terrorists-love-toyota-tacomas

 

 

Just a couple of known articles to support my post.

 

 

 

 

 

Articles are bogus. The Tacoma is sold exclusively in the North American market. The Hilux is what is sold overseas and is quite different. The Tacoma has about as much of a chance ending up in terrorist hands as a Corvette.