GM MARKETING CHIEF THINKS THERE ARE ONLY TWO TRUCK COMPANIES: CHEVY AND FORD

By Autoblog.com - The Super Bowl ad for the Chevrolet Silverado shows that the rivalry between Chevrolet and Ford still rages strong. But is there room for another brand or two to mix it up in the battle for pickup supremacy? Not according to General Motors marketing chief Joel Ewanick.

Fox News reports that Ewanick said during a web chat on Jalopnik that "the two big players are Ford and Chevy." Ewanick added that it's like a presidential debate, saying "We want to have it with the other strong candidate -- and we want to engage them and want them to engage us." A quick look at the numbers shows that Ewanick has a point. The Ford F-Series was the top dog in 2011, with 584,917 trucks sold. The Silverado came in second with 415,130 sales, but if you add the nearly identical GMC Sierra, General Motors makes the battle much closer with 564,300 unit sales. That's more sales than the Toyota Tundra, Ram full-size and Nissan Titan combined (even without the Sierra).

The Ram, also an excellent pickup, finished a distant third with a reported 244,763 sales. Still, Ram brand spokesperson Dave Elshoff insists that Ram trucks remain part of the equation, adding "across much of the west -- where trucks are worked hard -- it's Ram that's either number one or two in market share."

We're not so sure that the truck battle is Chevy versus Ford and then everybody else, but it sure is nice to see GM and Ford getting a little chippy. It's a good bet that the chatter grows louder as the next generation Silverado and F-150 hit the auto show circuit in about a year.