Our sister site, PickupTrucks.com, made a pretty astonishing discovery when it broke down the sales figures for pickup trucks in 2008: Following GM and Ford, Toyota moved past Chrysler to become the third-largest seller of pickups in the country.
Even though Tundra sales fell sharply in the second half of 2008, that model and the Tacoma helped Toyota push past Dodge’s heavy hitters, the Dakota and Ram. Toyota snatched up 14.07% of the U.S. pickup truck market, while Chrysler held onto only 13.57%. GM and Ford controlled 37.11% and 29.25% of the market, respectively.
Already a rough year for Chrysler, this news comes as another tough blow. The Dodge brand was one of the automaker’s few (somewhat) bright spots in terms of sales and public opinion.