The holiday season is full of cheer, and joy, and advertising. Retailers are all hoping that their products will get scooped up in the holiday shopping frenzy, and they put significant dollars behind advertising to make it happen. If you are on the hunt for a new truck, you might find yourself overwhelmed with flashy ads as vehicle manufacturers get in on the holiday action.

While ads can be helpful when making a purchasing decision, it is often much more helpful to turn to data. If you want to know what trucks consumers are favoring, a look at the sales performance results for the third quarter of 2019 makes the answer obvious: the GMC Sierra.

GMC Sierra sales data

Good Car Bad Car (GCBC) provides monthly, quarterly, and yearly sales figures for pickup trucks sold in the U.S. Their most recent report includes the quarterly sales figures for the third quarter of 2019. The GMC Sierra stands out, posting a 28.9% increase over its third-quarter earnings in 2018. This represents an increase in sales from 51,367 in Q3 2018 to 66,199 in Q3 2019.

While there are vehicles with higher sales volumes, such as the Chevrolet Silverado, the GMC Sierra has the best momentum. The Sierra has also seen great month over month progress for new pickup truck sales. The Sierra had sales of just over 13,000 in January 2019 but demonstrated consistent upward progress with sales over 20,000 a month from July onward.

Why are people choosing the GMC Sierra?

With the Sierra’s popularity on the rise, there must be a reason consumers are choosing this full-size pickup. Consumers are likely drawn to the unique combination of power and luxury offered by the Sierra.

The Sierra comes with six trim options and a variety of optional features. This allows consumers who are looking for basic reliability to start at a reasonable price point of $31,195 while those looking to amp up the luxury can pile on the upgrades.

Diverse powertrain options

The Sierra has five engine options, three different transmissions, and rear- or four-wheel drive. There is a combination to suit every need. The available engines are:

• 2.7-liter turbo engine with an 8-speed automatic transmission
• 4.3-liter V6 engine with a 6-speed automatic transmission
• 5.3-liter V8 engine with a with a 6-speed automatic transmission or 10-speed automatic transmission
• 6.2-liter V8 with a 10-speed automatic transmission
• 3.0-liter turbo diesel engine with a 10-speed automatic transmission

Ample interior

The Sierra cab options allow for customized seating options. The Regular Cab model seats three, while the Double and Crew Cab models can fit up to six passengers.

With these models, you have the option of front-row bucket seats (allowing for maximum seating of five passengers) or a three-person split-bench (allowing for maximum seating of six passengers). For the best legroom in the rear, the Crew Cab is the ideal model. The variety of cab models allow the consumer to pick the configuration that works best for them, all with comfortable and roomy seats.

The GMC Sierra has plenty of tech

The Sierra comes standard with a 7-inch touch screen infotainment system, a six-speaker audio system in Double and Crew Cab models, Bluetooth, a USB port, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto.

Technology upgrade options include an 8-inch touchscreen, a seven-speaker Bose audio system, satellite radio, HD radio, a Wi-Fi hotspot, voice recognition, navigation, and additional USB ports. Standard safety technology includes a rearview camera and a Teen Driver system.

The Sierra also has options for a sunroof, dual-zone automatic climate control, and wireless device charging. The Sierra has a huge offering of optional safety technology, including automatic high-beam headlights, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, lane change alert, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, front and rear parking sensors, forward collision warning, low-speed forward automatic braking, pedestrian detection, and a surround-view camera system.

The multiple powertrains and variety of optional upgrades make it possible for most buyers to find the right balance of power and luxury, but only time will tell if the GMC Sierra continues to get impressive purchase results.