May Truck Sales Surge 68%
This story appears in the June 20 print edition of Transport Topics.
Heavy-duty U.S. truck sales surged 68.3% in May compared with year-ago results, the fastest monthly growth rate in a 17-month string of gains.
Sales for the first five months of 2011 have now grown 42.3%, according to the latest survey from WardsAuto.com.
Original equipment manufacturers sold 13,290 Class 8 trucks last month, up from 7,895 in May 2010, edging out March as the year’s busiest so far and the best since April 2007.
Year-to-date sales rose to 57,421 big trucks from 40,361, Ward’s said on June 9.
Six of the seven major truck brands posted monthly volume gains of more than 20%, year-over-year. However, Navistar Inc. was an exception, recording a small dip in sales.
Volvo Trucks North America had the most explosive growth, skyrocketing 272.8% to 1,711 units from 459 last year.
“We’re not normally on a trend with everyone in the rest of the world, but we’re seeing the increased activity,” said Volvo dealer Ron Remp, referring to his geographical market based in Wheeling, W.Va. Remp talks frequently with other VTNA dealers because he represents them on the American Truck Dealers board of directors; he said reports are consistent that fleets are highly interested in purchasing tractors that get better mileage.
VTNA Senior Vice President Ron Huibers also credited the company’s proprietary engines and transmissions.
“We’re achieving record levels of Volvo powertrain penetration and I-Shift sales — about 80% of our orders are for Volvo engines and nearly 40% of new truck orders have included our Volvo I-Shift automated manual transmission,” Huibers said.
Even with the increase, Volvo finished fifth in sales for the month. The company’s year-to-date sales also grew by the highest rate of any OEM, 117.8% to 6,769 heavy trucks.
ACT Research Co. said the strong growth is consistent with its observations.
“Despite some recent easing in freight growth and a softening in the path of the U.S. economy, demand for commercial vehicles continues to be strong. Widespread strength was apparent across all segments of the commercial vehicle market,” the Columbus, Ind., market research firm said in a June 14 statement.
Freightliner Trucks, the main division of Daimler Trucks North America, kept first place in sales for both the month and year to date. The company sold 3,880 heavy trucks for the month, a 73.8% leap from 2,233 in May 2010. Cumulative sales this year rose 46.9% to 19,280 vehicles.
Navistar’s International brand kept second place even though sales declined by 1.9% to 2,634 big trucks from 2,684 a year ago. Its five-month volume was up 3.4% to 11,723 units.
“This was expected and what we’ve been saying right along,” said spokesman Roy Wiley.
“Our new 15-liter engine just came out and we’re still ramping up on it, but we expect the second-half of our fiscal year will be much stronger,” said Wiley, referring to Navistar’s May-to-October period.
The two divisions of Paccar Inc. — Kenworth Trucks and Peterbilt Motors — each saw sales more than double, as they took third and fourth places for the month.
Kenworth sold 1,978 big trucks during May, up 107.6% from 953. Cumulative sales rose by 78.6% to 7,285 units.
Peterbilt moved 1,939 vehicles, 149.9% more than the 776 it sold in the 2010 month. The five-month volume jumped 49.9% to 7,243 Class 8s.
Attempts to reach officials with Freightliner and Peterbilt for comment were unsuccessful.
VTNA’s sister company within Volvo AB, Mack Trucks, took sixth place for the month.
Mack dealers sold 1,047 big trucks, a 67.3% jump from 626 a year ago. Cumulative volume rose 39.8% to 4,483 vehicles.
Western Star, DTNA’s severe-service line, rounded out the field, selling 101 heavy trucks, a 24.7% increase from the 81 sold in May 2010. Year-to-date sales rose 87.2% to 631 units.
Through the year’s first five months, the largest changes in U.S. Class 8 market share were Volvo, gaining 4.1 percentage points to 11.8%; Kenworth, gaining 2.6 points to 12.7%; and Navistar, losing 7.7 points to 20.4%.
While Volvo sales have soared this year, the company’s sales also fell by a disproportionately large amount in 2008 and 2009.
Huibers, commenting on the change, said, “The dynamics of the heavy-duty truck market were dramatically impacted by the worst recession since the Great Depression and many of our key customers simply were not purchasing trucks during that period. The fact that we’re broadening our customer base as market conditions improve enhances our competitive position moving forward.”
