Report: Pickups top cars for 1st time in U.S.

The highly lucrative pickup segment dominated by the Detroit 3 beat cars in the U.S., for the first time, by more than 17,000 sales in April — 186,417 pickups vs. 169,234 cars — according to a report from Autodata Corp.

Complete April sales results haven't been publicly released. The Detroit 3 and several other automakers won't report new sales figures until the second quarter concludes.

It would be a remarkable turn of events. Just five years ago, cars outsold pickups by more than half a million vehicles in a single month.

There are a few contributing factors. The Detroit 3's deliveries — pickups and otherwise — are concentrated more so in middle America than in the coastal states that implemented some of the earliest and most aggressive shutdown orders stemming from the coronavirus. Trucks also were bolstered by 0 percent financing offers.

"Even in a pandemic there are some offers too good to pass up," said Charlie Chesbrough, Cox Automotive's senior economist.