Profit on Pickup Trucks

[Shel_B]

Any idea what kind of profit Ford GM, or Stellantis make on their pickups? Yeah, it's an open-ended question and the answer depends on the truck, but there must be some sort of reasonable approximation that can be reached, at least by knowledgeable folks.

 

[panthermike]

I've often wondered the same thing, my guess is it's quite high. Would love to see some actual articles or literature on the topic though to.

 

[fantastic]

I'm sure they are making a great profit margin. Probably several thousands of dollars per vehicle. One might try to look up their 2022 annual profit & find a good source for how many vehicles they sold then do the math. That wouldn't really show the trucks alone but would give some idea of average profit per auto.

 

[CKN]

Any idea what kind of profit Ford GM, or Stellantis make on their pickups? Yeah, it's an open-ended question and the answer depends on the truck, but there must be some sort of reasonable approximation that can be reached, at least by knowledgeable folks.

According to a new report from Reuters, The General has the potential to earn as much as $7.5 billion from sales of ICE-powered trucks and SUVs through 2035. This comes out to $10,678 per vehicle on average before accounting for interest and taxes.Jun 16, 2023

 

[fantastic]

According to a new report from Reuters, The General has the potential to earn as much as $7.5 billion from sales of ICE-powered trucks and SUVs through 2035. This comes out to $10,678 per vehicle on average before accounting for interest and taxes.Jun 16, 2023

Years ago I'd heard it was around $6k so this is inline. Add in inflation & higher sale price now we're at the figure you show here probably.

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

I recall reading years ago in an article (about Tesla oddly enough) that Ford made about $10K on a F150. On the other hand GM and Stellantis paid $360 million this year in fuel economy penalties and Tesla has been the beneficiary of about a $1Billion / yr in EV credits purchased by the big 3 so easy come easy go.

 

[AZjeff]

I'm sure they are making a great profit margin. Probably several thousands of dollars per vehicle.

$2,000 on a (cheap) $50,000 truck is 4%, hardly a great profit margin unless you're a grocery store.

"Profit" needs to be more defined, Gross, net, percentage, etc.

Part 2 of Shel_B's question: What do you think is a reasonable profit percentage on new vehicles? Should be interesting.

 

[dfarr67]

They sure dropped lesser models in a hurry to bump suv/truck production. But I've seen it before when the domestics ae caught out when the market changes.

 

[wpod]

They sure dropped lesser models in a hurry to bump suv/truck production. But I've seen it before when the domestics ae caught out when the market changes.

It doesn't make business to produce a product that people aren't buying in large enough numbers.

 

[CKN]

It doesn't make business to produce a product that people aren't buying in large enough numbers.

The only guys who want a single cab no frills work truck (non commercial use) hang out on here.......not enough consideration for the truck manufacturers.

 

[IndyIan]

$2,000 on a (cheap) $50,000 truck is 4%, hardly a great profit margin unless you're a grocery store.

"Profit" needs to be more defined, Gross, net, percentage, etc.

Part 2 of Shel_B's question: What do you think is a reasonable profit percentage on new vehicles? Should be interesting.

I guess if the manufacturers and inefficient, they can lose money on expensive trucks!
RAM can sell new Ram Classic base 8spd V8 4wd crew cab's for $32.6k US here. Or the new RAM equipped the same for $36.2k.
I assume they don't lose money on those, and all the expensive metal stuff and engineering is the mostly the same as the fancy versions, so they must make some decent profit on the $50k US truck with upper trims?

I guess there really isn't a reasonable profit level either, its what the market will pay, and some years they won't make anything if they get things wrong....

 

[fantastic]

$2,000 on a (cheap) $50,000 truck is 4%, hardly a great profit margin unless you're a grocery store.

"Profit" needs to be more defined, Gross, net, percentage, etc.

Part 2 of Shel_B's question: What do you think is a reasonable profit percentage on new vehicles? Should be interesting.

I should have been more clear. What I meant was like $5k-$8k profit. Profit meaning net.

 

[Jdeere562]

I retired 2 years ago from a Business that made gambling machines. The basic machine sold for around $5000, depending on options. We had a cost of about $1200 in it, parts and labor.

 

[Rmay635703]

The only guys who want a single cab no frills work truck (non commercial use) hang out on here.......not enough consideration for the truck manufacturers.

More importantly The government penalizes vehicles by basing fuel economy by how many passengers a truck can fit alongside its area for passengers .

The more theoretical passengers and room for them the “better” the trucks fuel economy rating to .gov

AKA a truck that fits 6 passengers and gets 15mpg might be rated at a higher fuel economy than a 2 passenger truck that gets 30mpg.

This makes it very difficult to sell consumer regular cabs.

 

[andrew_j]

Guessing average of $15k. I believe more expense trucks have profit margins approaching $30k, despite what folks think engines and packages added not add as much to cost as they charge.

 

[PF52]

The only guys who want a single cab no frills work truck (non commercial use) hang out on here.......not enough consideration for the truck manufacturers.

I sort of figured Wpod wasn't referring to trucks at all.... More like, sedans etc which was what people used to buy before they fell in love with trucks.

Lordstown Assembly, for example, built 300,000 Chevy Cruzes in 2014, but barely 1/6 that number by 2019. It's no wonder they closed the plant.

 

[SeaJay]

I retired 2 years ago from a Business that made gambling machines. The basic machine sold for around $5000, depending on options. We had a cost of about $1200 in it, parts and labor.

Just to state the obvious, there are business expenses in addition to parts and labor.

 

[CKN]

I sort of figured Wpod wasn't referring to trucks at all.... More like, sedans etc which was what people used to buy before they fell in love with trucks.

Lordstown Assembly, for example, built 300,000 Chevy Cruzes in 2014, but barely 1/6 that number by 2019. It's no wonder they closed the plant.

That's what is hard for some to wrap their heads around on here. There are reasons sedans are dead. It was a sales slide (downward) in almost all cases.

 

[xmanjeff]

I was at the ford dearborn truck plant in august and the #s per day were 580 to 620 trucks rolling out the door per shift ( aprox 1200 / day), just saw a fb video yesterday , listing the top 10 vehicles produced , chevy silverado was like aprox high 200s thousand , ford f series was like maybe 320k and , gm as a total (gmc and chevy ) was like 500k

 

[ctechbob]

Don't forget to add the financing and leasing dimension. It is entirely possible they don't make as much as you think and make it up on the backend as interest through their financing companies.