US pick-ups go head-to-head: Chevrolet 1500 closes-in on Ram 1500

After a slow start, the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pick-up is closing the gap to the arch rival Ram 1500 in the new-car sales race.

Official new-car sales figures for September 2021 show the two titans of the US automotive industry are the closest they’ve ever been on the local charts so far.

Ram Trucks Australia reported 264 examples of the Ram 1500 as sold last month, compared to 227 examples of the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 – just 37 deliveries behind.

However, Ram Trucks Australia starts to pull away with a total of 299 vehicles reported as sold once a number of larger Ram 2500 pick-ups were added to the tally.

An unsual anomaly: the combined sales of V8-powered Ram and the Chevrolet pick-ups (526 reported as sold) overtook the number of electric cars reported as sold nationally last month (466), according to official data compiled by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

However, the FCAI figures don’t include US electric-car specialist Tesla, which chooses not to supply monthly sales data.

While General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) isn’t likely to overtake Ram locally – which is on track to sell 5000 pick-ups this year versus about 2500 Chevrolets – it is expected to gain momentum with the arrival on a new cut-price LTZ version at the bottom of the Silverado 1500 range, and a new 2500 model at the top of the range.

Both US pick-up brands have healthy order books in Australia, with waiting lists of up to three to four months.

Australian deliveries of US pick-ups have largely been shielded from temporary factory shutdowns due to semiconductor shortages, because our production lead times and shipping times are so long – and we sell vehicles in relatively small numbers.

Indeed, there are dealers in the US which sell more pick-ups than Ram and Chevrolet sell in Australia nationally.

Although the vehicles are manufactured in the USA, Canada or Mexico, they are shipped to Australia in left-hand-drive before being remanufactured in Melbourne to right-hand-drive – to factory quality and safety standards – by the Walkinshaw Automotive Group, the former parent company of Holden Special Vehicles.