The Ford F-150 is this summer’s hottest car, according to Autotrader.com.
This year has been a difficult time for new vehicle sales, with pickups taking only a minor hit relative to the rest of the offerings from automakers in the U.S.
What isn’t selling has been chronicled plenty – sedans, coupes and minivans – on sort of a generic basis; however, what models the reduced number of buyers are really looking for this year hasn’t been outlined — until now.
And the winner is? The Ford F-150 and F-250. Not exactly a surprise since the F-Series has been the best-selling vehicle in America though eight presidential administrations. However, Autotrader has compiled its list of the 10 Hottest Cars of Summer 2020 to highlight what people are looking at.
(2021 Ford F-150 puts premium on power, features — adds first hybrid.)
Summertime has many potential buyers dreaming of open-air fun in a Jeep Wrangler.
While this year has been dramatically different, it would appear – based on this list compiled using Autotrader searches from the first six months of 2020 – that although it’s a unique time in our lives right now, people’s automotive tastes remain unchanged.
“This year brought a lot of changes to the automotive industry, but we can always count on consistency with the Hottest Cars for Summer,” said Brian Moody, executive editor for Autotrader.
“This tried and true list highlights the biggest car trends of the summer. This list is a good place to start if you’re looking for a car that’s popular among shoppers, and these are some of the top picks because people continue to return to them year after year.”
(GM ready to build 20K new C8 Corvettes.)
In a trend stunning no one, Autotrader’s list of the 10 Hottest Cars of Summer 2020 is dominated by trucks and sport-utility vehicles, including:
- Ford F-150/250
- Jeep Wrangler
- Chevrolet Silverado 1500/2500
The Chevrolet Corvette is the fifth-most search car for the summer of 2020.
- Ford Mustang
- Chevrolet Corvette
- Ram 1500
- Toyota Tacoma
- GMC Sierra
- Jeep Grand Cherokee
- Toyota 4Runner
The vehicles are listed in order by the popularity of their searches. Two sports cars, the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Corvette, did make the list, but summertime often stimulates interest in sports cars and the Corvette in particular is still riding the wave of the introduction of the eighth-generation model that is the first-ever mid-engine version of the car.
To be clear, this list shouldn’t be confused with what people are buying in the biggest numbers, although I’m sure that Ford and General Motors would both love it if the Mustang and Corvette were the fourth and fifth best sellers of the year – new or used.
(Jeep grabs the spotlight with Wrangler Rubicon 392 V8 concept.)
However, with another round of stimulus checks allegedly on the horizon, perhaps some of these vehicles, whether new or pre-owned, may see a little bump in sales for this year.