June Class 8 Truck Sales Jump 64.6%

Truck manufacturers sold 14,647 Class 8 vehicles in June, a 64.6% increase over last June and the highest monthly total since March 2007, and they said they expected sales to continue to rise this year despite the weak economic recovery.

Through the first six months of 2011, truck makers sold 72,067 heavy-duty trucks in the United States, up 46.3% from the 49,257 in the first six months of 2010, WardsAuto.com said July 13.

Although Freightliner remained the market-share leader in June, it actually sold 56 fewer trucks than it did in May, and Daimler Trucks North America — which includes Western Star — fell behind Paccar Inc.’s total for its two brands, Kenworth and Peterbilt. Paccar usually sells fewer trucks than Daimler does.

Meanwhile, Navistar Inc.’s International trucks sales improved to 3,302 Class 8s in June, compared with 2,634 in May, yet its market share for the first half of the year declined to 20.8%, down from 25.1% for the full year in 2010, Ward’s said.

Freightliner’s 23,104 heavy-duty trucks sold this year through June gave it a 32.1% market share.

“One month of a truck maker’s truck sales can be above the norm, due to a large fleet sale, such as Werner Enterprises or a leasing company, such as Ryder System,” Chris Brady, president of Commercial Motor Vehicle Consulting, Manhasset, N.Y., told Transport Topics.

“The story to me is: Why has International lost market share in the first six months of 2011, as compared to the first six months of 2010?” Brady said. “Are fleets wary of advanced EGR, as compared to SCR, or the lack of availability of its MaxxForce 15-liter engine, as compared to competitors, or a combination of the both?”

Navistar, which did not have a 15-liter engine available until well into 2011, is the only truck maker using exhaust gas recirculation to meet the current federal emissions standard. All its competitors use selective catalytic reduction.

“We have been saying all year, including in chairman Dan Ustian’s second-quarter earnings comments, that we expected a fall-off in the first half of the calendar year,” Navistar spokesman Stephen Schrier told TT.

“It’s only this year that we’ve been offering a single-technology engine to our customers, and we’ve been saying that, as they become accustomed to it, our market share will climb again in the last half of this year,” Schrier said.

Manufacturers, dealers and analysts were all confident that June sales figures fit their forecasts of continued growth this year, but some noted supply constraints could hold back sales.

“Our latest figures show that the Class 8 backlog rose for the ninth consecutive month in June, to about 126,800 units,” Steve Tam, vice president of the commercial vehicle sector at ACT Research Co., Columbus, Ind., told TT.

“That puts the backlog up to an even six months,” Tam said.

“Class 8 demand remains strong because of long-term factors driving the market, especially the need to replace old vehicles, rather than short-term economic gyrations,” Tam said. “We’ve been tempering our 2011 forecast in particular, but that comes from concern that supply-chain constraints will keep us from reaching our U.S. build forecast of 184,600 for this year.”

“The 14,000-plus figure for U.S. Class 8 sales was right in line with our expectations for June,” Jonathan Starks, director of transportation analysis at consulting firm FTR Associates, Nashville, Ind., told TT. “We would look for the year-over-year gains to continue to move higher for the rest of 2011.”

Richard Witcher, vice chairman of the American Truck Dealers association, told TT that he sees “a lot of good things happening on the truck side from a national picture.”

Ron Huibers, senior vice president for sales and marketing at Volvo Trucks North America, said his firm expects “highway customers will continue leading the recovery in the market, as U.S. manufacturing, supported by record export levels, continues to grow and freight-hauling capacity remains tight.”

David Hames, general manager for marketing and strategy at Daimler Trucks North America, said, “Our order intake suggests that strong retail sales should persist in the coming months.”

Freightliner, DTNA’s larger brand, sold 3,824 trucks in June, compared with 3,880 in May, Wards said. DTNA, including 175 June sales by its Western Star brand, sold a total of 3,999 trucks.

Peterbilt Motors moved 2,264 heavy-duty units in June, and Kenworth Truck Co. sold 2,083 Class 8s. The two Paccar Inc. firms combined for 4,347 sales, Ward’s said. Paccar did not respond to requests for comment.

Mack Trucks Inc. and VTNA, both subsidiaries of Sweden-based Volvo AB, also did well in June.

In June, Mack sold 1,317 trucks, up from 614 last June, Ward’s said. Mack sold 5,800 trucks through June, up from 3,820 in first six months of 2010. VTNA sold 1,680 Volvo trucks, up from 776 last June. VTNA sold 8,449 Volvo trucks cumulatively in 2011 thru June, up from 3,884 in first six months of 2010.

In June 2010, Class 8 sales totaled 8,896 units, Ward’s said.