While Q1 2020 was dominated by a 20.0% drop in sales as a result of COVID-19, it also brought some notable changes in segment performance.

The only segment to record positive sales for the quarter was the small pickup segment, up 4.8%.

An underrepresented segment for some time, a few key new model introductions to the small pickup segment last year bore fruit with sales ramping up in the first quarter of 2020.

Although all other segments recorded decreases, several outperformed the overall market by a fair margin including the large pickup and luxury sport segments, down 1.7% and 5.5% respectively.

The largest decreases were noted for the luxury, luxury high, and subcompact segments down 41.7%, 46.5%, and 55.0% respectively. With the clear exception of the luxury sport segment, all passenger car segments performed poorly and fell well below the market average sales decrease.

Light truck segments, by contrast, generally outperformed the market with light truck share climbing to 79.2% of the market.