Toyota Motor Corp. is winning the battle for full-sized pickup buyers in Texas, the biggest market for the trucks that are Detroit automakers' best-selling models.
Promoting the redesigned 2007 Tundra, Toyota forced General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC to match incentive spending estimated at about $6,000 per truck. While Tundra's Texas market share soared 79 percent, competitors' shrank by 5 percent, said market-research firm R.L. Polk & Co.
Money-losing GM, Ford and Chrysler can ill afford to cede ground to Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota, especially in Texas, which accounts for more than one of every seven large-truck sales. The Texas competition will make it harder for Ford and Chrysler to benefit from the revamped F-Series and Dodge Ram pickups being unveiled at the Detroit auto show Jan. 13.
Tundra sales ``are coming from traditionally Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge'' buyers, said dealer Sam Pack, who owns three Ford stores in the Dallas area. ``Have they negatively affected Ford? No question they have.''
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