Class 8 Truck Sales Decrease 4.3% in December
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U.S. Class 8 retail sales closed out 2024 by trending below year-ago levels, according to data from Wards Intelligence.
Sales in December decreased 4.3% to 22,383 units from 23,390 during December 2023 but increased 13.9% on a month-to-month basis from 19,658 units sold in November. In 2024, only July and November saw year-over-year increases; sales for the year were down 9.9% to 240,249 units, compared with 266,752 in 2023.
“The year sort of petered out,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said. “We usually see about a 20% increase month to month, and we only saw about 14% going from November to December. It did not finish on as strong a note as is typical for the industry.”
Tam added that the muted conditions have partly been due to carriers facing a tougher-than-usual freight market, but he pointed out that truck sales still performed better than expected.
Tam
“If I go back to a year ago, we were expecting the Class 8 sales number for this year to be about 215,000,” Tam said. “The fact that we ended the year at 240,000, obviously, things were better full year-wise than what we had initially anticipated.”
Tam also has seen truck manufacturers building up their labor this year in anticipation of increased demand. But in the meantime, he noted, those additional workers have gotten through more truck orders, even as the sector continues to tackle lingering supply chain issues.
“While the industry experienced a year-over-year sales decline of 4.3% in December, it still marked a strong close to 2024, with the market finishing the year down by 10%,” said David Carson, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Daimler Truck North America. “The slowdown in on-highway demand throughout 2024 was a key factor behind the market’s decline, which persisted into December. However, the vocational segments performed exceptionally well, even though they represent a smaller share of the overall Class 8 market.”
RELATED: December Class 8 orders surge
Carson
Freightliner, a brand of DTNA, claimed the largest market share with 6,845 trucks sold in December, accounting for 30.6% of all sales, but that was down 11.3% from 7,718 reported in December 2023. Western Star experienced the largest year-over-year percentage increase at 53%, to 1,391 units from 909.
“We are extremely pleased with the performance of our vocational Western Star Trucks, setting new sales records with a 53% year-over-year increase in December and a 39% increase for the full year,” Carson said. “In Canada, Western Star has now become the third-best-selling truck. Overall, the industry is seeing positive inventory levels and steady order activity, but an increase in freight rates and load volumes will be necessary to drive further demand.”
Mack Trucks sales increased 14.5% to 2,110 from 1,842 units during the year-ago period. Volvo Trucks North America sales rose 8.6% to 2,692 units from 2,478. Mack and VTNA are brands of Volvo Group.
Randall
“While December’s retail sales reflected the broader market dynamics we saw throughout 2024, we’re encouraged by the traditional year-end seasonal uptick,” said Jonathan Randall, president of Mack Trucks North America. “As economic conditions continue to stabilize and the market rebalances, we expect to see gradual improvement in retail sales performance. With freight conditions poised to improve and freight growth expected in 2025, the fundamental strength of the trucking industry and its critical role in the supply chain remain unchanged, positioning us well for recovery ahead.”
International Motors sales jumped 4.5% to 2,552 units from 2,442. Peterbilt Motors Co. sales fell 10.6% to 3,469 units from 3,881. Kenworth Truck Co. sales dropped 19.4% to 3,308 from 4,105. Peterbilt and Kenworth are Paccar Inc. brands.
“These numbers are still pretty darn good,” FTR Chairman Eric Starks said. “The market is holding up fairly well, by and large, despite the softening that we were seeing. What’s interesting is we actually are seeing orders for equipment holding up fairly well. We’ve been seeing plus-30,000 in orders over the last several months. And that’s for North America, not just the U.S.”
Starks
Starks noted that buyers just haven’t been completely shying away from power units for several different factors. One of the main reasons, he suspects, is that the freight downturn has not looked like a traditional freight recession. Starks noted that the freight market essentially has been flat for the past year and a half. Rather, it is the rate side that has been struggling.
“I think what we are seeing right now is just getting back to a pure-play market that is more normalizing than anything,” Starks said. “With the orders holding up fairly well over the last several months, I do think that there were some companies holding back orders until they understood what the election looked like. My general sense, though, is that they were going to place those orders no matter what.”
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