Class 8 Purchases Down 20% From 2002 ‘Pre-Buy’ Highs

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>Sales of heavy-duty Class 8 trucks fell 19.9% in August from the abnormally high levels of a year earlier, and were even down slightly from the recession period of August 2001.

August 2002 was near the peak of a surge of “pre-buy” truck sales as fleets rushed to lock in older models ahead of untried new engine models required as of Oct. 1 to meet toughening federal emission standards.

Last month’s sales of 11,413 Class 8 units were down from the 14,254 units sold in August 2002, which had the most sales for any month since December 2000.

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