Is the American ute invasion over? Ram hits record but US-sized pick-ups are seemingly running out of Australian buyers as demand cools for Ram 1500, Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado | Opinion

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Charles Dickens never got to see a Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado or Ford F-150, but he perfectly summed up their current state in the Australian market.

Ram Australia has just celebrated the delivery of its 30,000th vehicle in Australia, nearly a decade after first going on sale. That’s no small achievement, symbolically and literally, as Ram was the first brand to take a risk on offering US-sized pickups (or utes, as we know them) in Australia.

There was certainly no guarantee of success and at the time Ram arrived General Motors, Ford and Toyota executives were all playing down the need for these super-sized utes when the likes of the Holden Colorado, Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux were both capable and popular.

Fast forward to 2025 and Ram is competing against Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota with US utes of their own. Australians have never had more choice when it comes to utes with the Silverado, F-150 and Tundra now alongside Ram’s range of 1500, 2500 and 3500.

The only catch is, it appears these brands are running out of buyers. Sales in the ‘Pickup over $100,000’ segment (which includes all these models) is down 13.4 per cent in the first six months of 2025.

That’s a big decline, especially when you consider how new the Ford and Toyota offerings are, having only arrived in 2024. The F-150 is down 42 per cent in the first half of this year, suggesting the initial surge of demand has faded and reality has now set in.

The Tundra is the only vehicle in the segment to record sales growth in ‘25, up a significant 89.9 per cent. However, that is coming off a very low base and the Toyota is still the least popular amongst its competitive set. Toyota has sold 378 Tundra this year, compared to 545 F-150, 1177 Silverado and 1375 Ram 1500.

Those numbers for the Chevrolet and Ram are something to give hope to the respective brands, with 2552 six-figure ute sales still suggesting there is some level of demand. However, while Ram has achieved a cumulative record, sales of all three of its models are down as are the Chevrolet pair of Silverado 1500 and Silverado HD.

There is every chance we may have reached ‘peak US ute’, especially as a large part of the Ram 1500s success to this point has been built off the back of its now-superceded ‘Hemi’ V8-powered models.

The Ram 1500, F-150 and Toyota are all now powered by six-cylinder engines, so the demand for these utes without a V8 is being tested. Chevrolet still has the V8 but Ram has been on run-out, so it will be interesting to see if the latter can retain its lead in the market with a six-cylinder.

There’s also the obvious question of how many buyers actually exist that want a ute that costs so much? There are only so many people willing and able to spend huge dollars on a very specific type of vehicle.

The cost of these utes is a major inhibitor on their sales potential, the F-150 is the most affordable at $106,950 and prices jump from there to $130,500 for the Silverado, the new turbocharged six-cylinder 1500 starts at $141,950 and the Tundra is priced from $155,990. 

So the second half of the year is shaping as a litmus test for these US pickups in the Australian market. Will there be enough on-going demand for such big and expensive utes? Will the loss of the V8 impact Ram? Will the overall ute market continue to splinter more and more?

Only time will tell, but certainly the signs in the first half of the year suggest we may have seen the glory days for these imported utes. But it was the best of times - while it lasted.