The era of the pickup truck is over. For the first time in 15 years, the Ford F-Series has lost its position as the nation’s top selling vehicle. The new king is the Honda Civic, followed by three other economy models. That’s right: the F-Series plummeted to fifth place in sales last month.

Ford says it plans to sell F-Series trucks “at employee-discount prices this month,” according to Bloomberg, but that’s too late to help Ford return to profitability this year.

Declining pickup sales contributed to Ford’s announcement last month that it would abandon a target of returning to profit by next year. The company had combined losses of $15.3 billion in 2006 and 2007, mostly because of its North American unit.

The automaker is slashing North American production for the rest of 2008 in response to the lower truck sales.

GM, the largest U.S. automaker, said today that it will close four truck plants, build more small cars, and may drop its Hummer brand of large sport-utility vehicles. The company’s May sales fell 28 percent, including a 37 percent plunge for pickups, SUVs and vans.

Here are the top five spots for May sales, from the Kicking Tires blog:

• Honda Civic: 53,229 (including hybrid)
• Toyota Corolla: 52,826
• Toyota Camry: 51,291 (including hybrid)
• Honda Accord: 43,728 (including hybrid and coupe)
• Ford F-Series: 42,973

“Honda, Toyota Cars Outsell Ford’s F-Series Pickups” [Bloomberg]
“Honda Civic Best-Selling Car in the Country” [Kicking Tires]
(Photo: Kevitivity)

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