Dont Mess With Texas – or Ford

The results of the 2008 Texas Truck Rodeo have been released and, once again, the Texas Auto Writers Association has bestowed top honors on a Ford truck.

Truck Sales in the Land of $4 Gas

It’s no secret that many of us here at LotPro.com find the idea of the average family riding around in a heavily-optioned, leather-lined, gas-guzzling extended cab four-by-four pickup truck to be a special form of lunacy. The closest thing many of these “air haulers” will come to off-roading is accidentally jumping a curb and riding over the well-manicured lawn of the local shopping mall. For evidence of how far the pickup has strayed from its original intent, one has only to look at the precipitous decline in sales this summer that was the direct result of skyrocketing fuel prices. With gas prices nudging $4 per gallon, the wannabees fled the market – leaving only those who really needed a truck as the customers that were driving them off dealer lots in the second half of the year.

And while the market has rebounded somewhat from this summer’s truck sales debacle, it appears as though the sales numbers for these vehicles will never reach the same heights again. But lost in the roller coaster ride of sales in the past year are two simple facts; Fact number one: there still are, and will continue to be, legitimate markets for pickups in the U.S. Fact number two: The biggest market for pickups in America is Texas.

2008 Truck of Texas

Texas is big. No doubt about it. If you’re traveling from Beaumont in the east to El Paso in the west, you’ll cover almost 840 miles. That’s further than Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and only 50 miles less than driving from Rome, Italy to Paris, France. And the whole time you’re driving in the same state!

Texas is also in the oil drilling business, the oil refining business, cattle ranching, farming and construction. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (which Texas has plenty of) to see why most pickup owners in Texas are serious about their trucks. Texans are so big on trucks, in fact, that in 1992, the Texas Auto Writers Association™  (TAWA™) founded the “Texas Truck Rodeo. ™”

The Truck Rodeo is held the third weekend of October and, for three days, members of  TAWA drive trucks and SUV’s on on-road and off-road courses. Winners are honored in various categories, with the overall winner receiving a silver cup “traveling trophy” along with the honor of being named “Truck of Texas” and “SUV of Texas”.

According to TAWA president Harold Gunn, “’ Truck of Texas’ is really the most important award of its type in the industry. We love trucks down here, and we really use these vehicles everyday. And since we spend so much time in our vehicles, for us it’s not just about how the horse feels being towed, but how your butt feels sitting in the truck, too.”

2009 Ford F-150

Ford Sweeps Top Awards

For the sixth consecutive year, a Ford truck has won top honors – this year it went to the new 2009 F-150. Ford also won CUV and SUV of Texas, while Ford’s lineup of trucks also won Truck Line of Texas.

Here is a complete list of winners:

TRUCK OF TEXAS – 2009 FORD F-150

SUV OF TEXAS – 2008 FORD EXPEDITION KING RANCH

CUV OF TEXAS – 2009 FORD FLEX

TRUCK LINE OF TEXAS – FORD

OUTSTANDING FEATURE – DODGE RAM BOX

FULL-SIZE PICKUP TRUCK – 2009 DODGE RAM 1500, LARAMIE 4X4

MID-SIZE PICKUP TRUCK – 2009 TOYOTA TACOMA D-CAB 4X4

LUXURY PICKUP TRUCK – 2009 FORD F-150 KING RANCH

HEAVY DUTY PICKUP TRUCK -  FORD F-350 CABELA’S EDITION

FULL-SIZE SPORT UTILITY VEHICLE – 2009 GMC 2WD YUKON HYBRID

MID-SIZE SPORT UTILITY VEHICLE – 2008 FORD EXPLORER

COMPACT SPORT UTILITY VEHICLE – 2009 SUZUKI GRAND VITARA XSPORT

FULL-SIZE LUXURY SPORT UTILITY VEHICLE-2009 CADILLAC ESCALADE HYBRID

MID-SIZE LUXURY SPORT UTILITY VEHICLE -2009 MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 BlueTEC

LUXURY CROSSOVER UTILITY VEHICLE – 2008 LINCOLN MKX

COMPACT CROSSOVER UTILITY VEHICLE – 2009 SUBARU FORESTER 2.5X

MID-SIZE CROSSOVER UTILITY VEHICLE – 2009 MAZDA CX-9

FULL-SIZE CROSSOVER UTILITY VEHICLE – 2009 FORD FLEX

The Bottom Line

There are still markets out there where a pickup truck is more than a status symbol. So from LotPro.com, a tip of the Stetson to TAWA and to Ford for a job well done.

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