The 2021 Toyota Tacoma and 2021 Chevrolet Colorado are some of the more popular midsize trucks on the market right now. As the automotive market is still tumbling through a chaotic supply chain, what will happen with pickup truck sales throughout the year? It seems that midsize trucks like the Tacoma and Colorado are paving the way for the new compact pickup truck segment.

Is the 2021 Toyota Tacoma a good truck?

The sales numbers for the Toyota Tacoma and Chevrolet Colorado were provided by Good Car Bad Car. These numbers are about as recent as possible, updated on July 1st. So how is the Tacoma crushing the Colorado in sales by so much?

The 2021 Toyota Tacoma has sold 139,296 units so far this year. In 2020, that number was 104,698 units sold – up 33%. That’s 33% in only half of the year, so Toyota can expect to see an increase in sales if inventory can keep up. In 2021, the Chevrolet Colorado has sold 38,859 units, down from the 41,272 sold last year.

In quarter two of 2021, the Tacoma sold 72,847 units compared to the 14,775 the Colorado sold. For the Tacoma, that was about 20,000 more than the brand sold in the same quarter last year. However, the Chevrolet Colorado actually sold about 5,000 more during this time last year. Are buyers looking elsewhere for trucks or is Chevrolet having issues keeping up?

The Chevrolet Colorado is having inventory issues

If you try to look online for a new midsize pickup truck, you might run into some issues. Depending on your location, there seem to be plenty of the 2021 Toyota Tacoma available. A variety of trim levels and colors are available.

When looking for available inventory in a few areas, the Tacoma shows over 6,000 similar matches. When looking in the same zip code, the 2021 Chevrolet Colorado only has around 400 similar matches. That means that even if you leave the house wanting to purchase a Chevrolet Colorado, you might not be able to find one.

Toyota does not seem to have been quite as impacted by the lack of semiconductor chips. There appears to be a lot of inventory for Toyota. It is expected to cost the industry upwards of $110 billion in sales. Chevrolet has even cut production for the new Corvette due to supply chain issues and staffing issues in factories.

The mid-size truck segment is heating up

The years of full-size giant pickup trucks might be behind us. There is a definite trend in the last few years showing that buyers are moving away from bigger trucks. Mid-size pickup truck sales are up 29% over the last year, while full-size trucks are only up around 11%.

It is also worth noting that automakers have been able to pack tons of features and options into smaller packages in recent years. Large trucks are no longer the only options for those who need to tow or haul things regularly. Mid-size trucks have better tow and payload ratings over five years ago.

Many manufacturers are having issues with the semiconductor chip shortage, which is likely impacting automakers’ ability to keep up. However, with the compact Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz on the agenda for next year, is the trend just moving toward smaller trucks? The 2021 Toyota Tacoma and Chevrolet Colorado walked so the 2022 Ford Maverick could run.