Somewhere at General Motors, champagne is being poured right now as part of a celebration. Thanks to GM-lovers such as yourselves, “total [year-over-year] sales of trucks, including pickups, vans and SUVs, were up 14 percent” across Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac in March, according to GM.
In fact, Chevy sold more pickups in March than it has in any March since 2007. It moved seven percent more Silverados. GM says the Colorado was the industry’s fastest-selling truck in March for the second month in a row. On top of that, Equinox and Traverse sales were up by double digits compared to last March – 22 and 18 percent, respectively.
Last month marked the best March for GMC pickup sales since 2006. It moved 2,434 Canyons and Sierra sales went up by three percent. Compared to last March, GMC sold 16 percent more Yukon XLs. The automaker also determined a whopping 40 percent of heavy-duty Sierra customers opt for Denali trim.
Let’s not forget about Cadillac. People bought 119 percent more Escalades this March than they did last March. Almost 60 percent of the entire brand’s customers through the end of the first quarter of 2015 were new to the Cadillac way of luxury.
There are plenty more figures where those came from. (You can read them all in the press release that I linked to below.) Let’s just say GM’s truck divisions are doing well. Its passenger cars, which took a 21-percent year-over-year hit in March, need a big boost, though. Perhaps the 2016 Chevy Malibu will give them one.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
