U.S. light vehicle sales fell 6.9% to about 1.25 million sales in April from a year ago, hitting Detroit’s automakers hard, as the pinch of $3.60-a-gallon gas combined with a struggling U.S. economy to drive a strong consumer shift to more fuel-efficient cars and crossovers from large trucks.

The shift led to sales and market-share declines at General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, which have historically relied on truck sales. GM and Ford, however, noted jumps in car and crossover sales for the month, compared with a year ago.

Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. also felt the impact of fewer consumers choosing pickups and SUVs, but they overcame that squeeze with increased sales of cars.

“The reason for the take down is because of rising oil prices,” said Mark LaNeve, GM North America vice president of sales, service and marketing. “What we did not count on is oil hitting as high as almost $120 a barrel. What that’s doing is causing a sharp shift to cars and crossovers from large trucks.”

The highlights:

*GM reported sales of 257,638 vehicles in April, down 16.2% from the same month last year.

*Ford sales fell 12.1% to 200,007 in year-over-year comparisons.

*Chrysler reported April sales of 147,751, down 23.5% from the same month last year.

*Toyota reported a sales increase of 3.4% to 217,700 vehicles.

*Nissan posted a 6.7% overall sales increase for the month to 75,855.

Honda suffered a technical problem Thursday that kept it from reporting April sales. But it estimated that U.S. economic trends would push it to an all-time record for April — 134,400, a 6.7% increase — because its U.S. lineup consists primarily of small cars and small SUVs.

GM said retail sales of cars and crossovers rose more than 9%, but did not make up for declining truck sales and a sharp decline in fleet deliveries that GM said were impacted by the strike at supplier American Axle & Manufacturing Inc., which has reduced or stopped production at 31 GM plants.

LaNeve blamed the American Axle strike for costing GM 15,000 units of fleet sales last month. He expects that GM will not lose those sales, but instead will record them once the Axle strike is over.

GM’s drop in total sales was swayed largely by the Chevrolet Silverado pickup — where sales fell 24.7% to 37,231 last month from 49,436 a year ago — and the GMC Sierra pickup, where sales fell 21.7% to 13,196 from 16,849.

While they trade in smaller volumes, GM’s cars showed widespread gains, with the Chevrolet Aveo, Cobalt and Malibu; the Cadillac CTS, the Pontiac Vibe and the Saturn Aura all up by double-digit percentages from a year ago. And GM executives said they are looking for ways to increase production of the hottest selling vehicles quickly, even as it announced shift reductions at four North American truck plants earlier this week.

“Consumer preference is shifting and we’re shifting with it,” LaNeve said. “Throughout the industry, truck sales have been soft. We’ve been able to match the current economic slowdown with historically low total inventories, as we look for ways to increase car and crossover production.”

The trend repeated at Ford, where retail sales of its cars and crossovers also grew, led by a 43.5% increase in sales of the Ford Focus to 23,850 from 16,626 a year earlier.

Ford’s crossovers, led by the midsized Edge and smaller Escape, continue to perform well in dealer showrooms, with an overall gain of 11%.

Like GM, however, the gains in car and crossover sales weren’t enough to overcome losses on the truck side.

The F-Series pickups, Ford’s best-selling vehicle line and a major contributor to companywide profits, posted a decline of 21% to 44,813 for the month from 56,692. For the year, F-Series sales are now down 15.5%.

“We continue to see movement toward small and midsize cars as well as car-based crossovers,” Ford sales analyst George Pipas said. “I think it’s fair to say the trend is accelerating in 2008. I think we can tie the acceleration to gas prices.”

Chrysler Executive Vice President of North American sales Steve Landry said gas is certainly a factor in the declines in sales of larger vehicles, but general uneasiness about the U.S. economy has also played a role.

“We’re seeing higher monthly payments coming in and trading in for lower monthly payments,” Landry said.

Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at Edmunds.com said there are a lot of factors causing the shift.

“I think part of it is gas prices, but it’s also the economy in general,” Caldwell said. “When people had more equity in their houses, they felt good, they felt secure. Maybe they got a bigger car and didn’t worry about gas prices. But when you lose equity, and now with the gas prices as high as $4 a gallon, people start to downsize.”

And, Caldwell said, there’s no sign that the trend will end soon, so the domestic automakers are scrambling to let consumers know what they’ve got and meet the demand.

“I think we’re going to continue to see this trend toward small cars and crossovers,” she said. “Right now, a lot of people think of the imports when they think of smaller vehicles. I think the manufacturers are going to begin marketing those cars better than they have. And I think we’ll see these manufacturers look into their global portfolios to see what they can bring to the United States right now.”

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Often times, people decide to purchase a large truck to haul very heavy loads. If that is not your intention, and you’d like to purchase a truck to drive more like a car (with quick, quiet acceleration), you may want a gasoline engine.

There are three main benefits to this that is  Gas engines run smoother,  Fuel is easier to find and  Gas engines start easier in cold weatherIf, however, your intent is to use your truck for towing, you may want to consider a diesel engine. The three main benefits to this are  Good fuel economy,  High mileage and  Better for towing

Now, the price of a diesel truck is very high, but it very well may be worth it. They have many benefits, and could very well save you a good deal of money in the end. Benefits vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. You can compare these benefits below:

Ford

In 1994, Ford introduced its international engineered power stroke diesel. This pushed the 3/4 ton and 1 ton truck market to where it is today. Before this, the big one inch gasoline engines made these poorly built diesels barely considerable. Over 70% of super duty Fords were sold with the optional 7.3L V-8 diesel engine from 1994-2002. Because of this engine, Ford became one of the leaders in diesel trucks.

Dodge

In 2002, Ram didn’t have enough power with the 245 HP 9.5L, so Dodge promised more powerful engines for the 2500/3500 platform, and they definitely followed through on their promise: the 2500 and 3500 Dodge Ram Heave Duty trucks are the newest ¾ and 1 ton trucks on the road.

The new base engine is the 5.7L gasoline V-8, which revives the well-known, historical Hemi name, as it is the most powerful engine of the group at 345 HP.

Chevrolet/GMC:

Coming standard with GM’s 6.0L gas engine V-8 are the GM 2500/3500 twins Silverado HD and Sierra HD. The engine is ideal for ¾ ton trucks where towing isn’t a concern. Based on Chevrolet’s venerable big block engine are the upgrades that start with the 8.1 gas V-8.

Diesel trucks have proven to be:

Efficient with mileage
Great for towing
Easy on maintenance

Also, you won’t need to get them tuned up nearly as much as gasoline engines, because-unlike gasoline engines-diesel engines do not have spark plugs.

The reported owner of an auto shop died after a pickup truck fell on him Wednesday night in southwest suburban Orland Park.

Mark Minonne, 32, of the 5200 block of S. Kostner Ave., was pronounced dead at 7:54 p.m. at St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Olympia Fields after a truck fell on him at 15622 S. 70th Ct. in Orland Park, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. An autopsy is scheduled for later Thursday.

Midwest Fuel Injection Service Corporation is listed at the Orland Park address.

At 7:35 p.m., the Orland Park Fire Protection District responded to the car shop for a report of an injured man, according to Battalion Chief Steve Smith.

The man, who reportedly owns the car shop, was working under a Pickup truck held by a lift when it possibly failed and the truck fell on him, Smith said. Nobody else was injured.

“We don’t know what happened,” according to Smith, who said police are probing the incident. Orland Park police were not immediately available.

News and Updates on Pickup Trucks at One Stop

Recent figures concerning traffic safety in the continent of Europe shows a reduction of fatalities caused by traffic accidents. The number of deaths has been reduced by as much as 20 percent starting from 2001 up until this year. This shows an increased benefit of safety systems used on vehicles running on the Europe’s roads.

The European Union though aims to continue that trend by reducing the number of deaths caused by traffic accidents by the half by the year 2010. Already, automakers are jumping on the bandwagon of developing safety systems that will help them reach that goal.One of the foremost automakers that come to mind when safety is concerned is Volvo. The Swedish manufacturer of trucks has already taken steps to participate in the battle against traffic accidents.

Volvo Trucks, the second largest manufacturer of trucks and buses, recently introduced two active safety systems that will be integrated into their production trucks. These two systems are the Lane Keeping Support (LKS) and the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). Both of these are developed by Volvo’s safety experts.The Lane Keeping Support is essentially a system that warns the driver of the vehicle if he or she is leaving his or her lane. The technology constantly monitors lane markers and warns the driver with an audible signal when the vehicle is leaving the lane. The safety system is activated when the vehicle reaches speeds of 60 kilometers per hour.

This technology is recommended for large vehicles like Volvo’s trucks since their sheer size makes them hard to steer especially during high speed driving. Claes Avedal, the head of the accident research for Volvo Trucks, expound the seriousness of the threat of a truck without a Lane Keeping Support system. “The driver loses his concentration for a moment and that is when the risk is greatest of also losing control over the vehicle,” says Avedal.

On the other hand, the Adaptive Cruise Control is an improved version of the previous ACC employed by Volvo’s vehicles which may or may not be equipped with a volvo antenna . Well, not that it matters of course. The Adaptive Cruise Control is a safety system which uses radar or laser, (Volvo uses a radar-based ACC) to calculate the proximity of the vehicle to the vehicle in front of it. When the distance reaches a preset constant, the system will slow down the vehicle to a preset speed.

Volvo’s improved ACC features a greater braking force to give the driver maximum stopping power in cases of emergency.

Big serious trucks are not usually what comes to mind when you think of the word “hybrid” but in a world of $100+ barrels of light sweet crude, Peterbilt is putting out some products that may change that. Its medium duty Peterbilt Model 330 (photo above) is just like a Prius. Except it takes diesel and boasts as much torque as a herd of Prii.

Featuring the Eaton parallel hybrid power system, the Model 330 and Model 335 both offer electric motor assist, regenerative braking, lithium ion batteries and fat tax credits. The 330 uses about 30 percent less fuel in an urban driving cycle while the 335 can save a whopping 60 percent when it’s used in a utility configuration. How does it do that? Say you’re up in the bucket restoring power after a thunderstorm, the battery supplies the juice you need to maneuver. If you need more than the battery has, the motor will automatically turn on and quickly recharge it.

Peterbilt has another type of truck that features Eaton’s Hydraulic Launch Assist (HLA). The imaginatively-named Model 320 is designed for “vocational stop-and-go applications” or “garbage truck,” in the modern parlance. As a vehicle that may stop and go a thousand or more times a day, this Peterbilt takes advantage of hydraulics to recover up to 75 percent of the energy from stopping to use for relaunching.

As has been found with other heavy duty hybrids, maintenance, as well as fuel, savings are significant with these workhorses. Quieter operation and lower environmental impact seal the deal.

Read more about :- Peterbilt showcases hydraulic hybrid

Ford Motor Company is recalling a whole herd of trucks to see the team doctors over concerns about a hose in the braking system that could adversely effect the vehicles’ braking power. According to the NHTSA, about 605,000 2005 and 2006 model year Ford F150 and Lincoln Mark LT trucks equipped with the 3-valve 5.4-liter V8 will receive a hose replacement free of charge. The problem hose supplies the brake booster with engine vacuum, and could swell over time and eventually become disconnected. While the hydraulic braking system will function without the power assist, pedal effort will be significantly increased, and if drivers are taken off-guard by the problem an accident could occur. Ford will start notifying owners in June, and the recall campaign will kick off in July. According to FoMoCo, there have been 11 minor accidents related to the issue.

Things have definitely changed. Today’s drivers have plenty of choices, from basic work trucks designed to haul cargo to option-filled trucks that rival a luxury sedan.So how do you choose the right pickup truck? One way to get started is to take some time to analyze your wants and needs.

Compact trucks are smaller in scale than full size trucks.They can usually tow up to about 3,000 pounds, a weight that accommodates many trailer and boat towing tasks. If you have heavier towing needs, move up to a mid-size or full size truck.

Mid-size pickups can be closer in size to a compact or to a full-size truck. Comparing trucks on dealer lots is the best way to understand how they compare to each other in exterior and interior size.

Engine Choices

You’ll find four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines in compact trucks. Full-size trucks offer more variety, with six-cylinders, V8s, V10s and diesels.

Drivetrain Options

Most of the trucks on the market are available with either a manual or automatic transmission and your choice of 2WD or 4WD. You’ll find many trucks offer limited-slip or locking differentials and electronic traction control. Safety options are becoming increasingly popular on new pickup trucks.

There are several truck cab styles, so you should be able to find one that suits your seating needs.

• A standard cab truck has one bench or two bucket seats–no second row seating and (usually) no substantial storage behind the seats.
• An extended cab truck has jump seats or a bench seat in back. Be sure to sit in the back while someone else drives the vehicle so that you have a feel for its seating comfort.
  • Extended cabs provide extra space to carry groceries or other packages behind the first row — out of the weather and locked up for security.
• A crew cab truck has full second row seating, with 4-doors that swing open towards the front. Crew cabs are gaining in popularity as more and more people use pickup trucks as their primary vehicle.