Pickups roll to the back of the lot

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2008 | by Chris Woodyard and Sharon Silke Carty

DETROIT -- The imploding pickup market is giving automakers a truckload of trouble they never imagined.

Ford and General Motors underscored the collapse last week by pushing back updates of full-size pickups, long their best-selling, most profitable vehicles.

"In the short term, it's tough," says Dave Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research.

Ford will delay rollout of its redesigned F-150, the best-selling U.S. vehicle for 26 years, by at least two months until "late fall," while it tries to sell down inventory of the current model. GM has halted work on the next-generation Silverado and diverted engineers to car programs.

Behind the decisions is a wrecking yard of bad news for the future of the American pickup:

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