The perennial best-seller, Ford F-Series pickup, along with the other best-selling pickups like the Chevrolet Silverado and the Dodge Ram staved off the very stiff competition from smaller cars with way better gas mileage, to remain at the top of Forbes’ list of the top selling cars for 2006.

The F-Series still lords it over all the other vehicles sold in the US this year although sales have fallen 13% down from 625,047 units by August of last year to 545,963 by the end of August this year. Meanwhile, sales of the other pickups in the top ten also tumbled; the top three pickups sold a combined 1.2 million units in the first eight months of 2006, down 8% or over 110,000 units from the 1.3 million US sales registered in the first eight months of 2004.

A telling sign is the conspicuous absence of any SUV or van in the list. Ford’s Explorer SUV, once ranked sixth in 2004 is now dropped from the list, having experienced a 31% decline in sales this year despite significant upgrades in luxury and refinement.

Meanwhile, while heavy bodies and gas-guzzlers are all seeing a downward trend, fuel-efficient passenger cars are gaining headway: the Camry and Corolla from Toyota and the Accord from Honda. The Toyota Corolla wasn’t on the list back in 2004, same with the Chevrolet Cobalt and the Nissan Altima, who are nth and nth respectively. Well, from this list, it is quite evident that the price of gasoline isn’t just a consideration when buying a car, but an important and decisive factor.

Ford F-Series Pickup – Base Price: $19,640

Chevrolet Silverado Pickup – Base Price: $16,740

Toyota Camry – Base Price: $18,270

Toyota Corolla Sedan – Base Price: $14, 205

Honda Accord coupe and sedan – Base Price: $18,625

Dodge Ram Pickup – Base Price: $22,050

Honda Civic coupe and sedan – Base Price: $14,810

Chevrolet Impala – Base Price: $21,515

Chevrolet Cobalt coupe and sedan – Base Price: $13,665

Nissan Altima sedan – Base Price: $19,600