Class 8 Truck Sales Rise 35.5% in 29th Straight Monthly Gain

Heavy-duty truck sales in the United States climbed 35.5% in May to 18,012 from the same month last year, reaching the second-highest total in the current growth cycle as carriers continued to renew their fleets.

The results reported June 13 by WardsAuto.com continued a stretch of 29 consecutive gains, and included increases for all seven Class 8 nameplates, ranging from 45.6% at Mack Trucks to 23.8% at Volvo Trucks North America. In comparison, a year ago May sales totaled 13,290. Since the upswing began, the highest monthly total was 20,939 in December 2011.

The latest report continued the recent trend of sales that continue rising as a manufacturing back-log is whittled down, even though order intake has declined for five consecutive months, according to ACT Research (6-11, p. 1). ACT’s latest data show a 4.1-month backlog, down from 4.8 months in January.

“U.S. Class 8 industry sales were up 6.5% in May [from April], which is the strongest retail performance to date this year, in addition to the increase in order volume we saw for the month,” said David Hames, general manager of marketing and strategy for Daimler Trucks North America.

“It’s too soon to call it a trend, but May results are consistent with what we see in the fundamentals and with our outlook for the year,” Hames said.

Daimler’s Freightliner brand continued to lead the market, with 5,529 units sold, 42.5% more than May 2011. Paccar Inc.’s sales totaled 5,290, including 2,704 Kenworths and 2,586 Peterbilts, representing year-over-year increases of 36.7% and 33.4% respectively.

Navistar sales totaled 3,337, rising 26.7% from the year-earlier period. Volvo Trucks North America sales were 2,118, while Mack Trucks totaled 1,524.

On a month-to-month basis, VTNA sales rose the most, 541, or nearly one-third, outpacing the gain of 437 at Freightliner, 60 more at Kenworth, 56 at Peterbilt and 45 more Mack units. Navistar sold 83 fewer trucks in May than in April.

Freightliner sales so far this year have climbed 34.6% to 25,944, for a market share of 31.7%, down from 33.6% in the 2011 period.

Other OEMs also stressed the positives in today’s market.

“Mack’s growth primarily can be attributed to success in the local-and regional-haul segment of the market,” John Walsh, vice president of marketing at Mack, told TT. “With construction remaining weak, we’ve focused on highway truck sales, receiving tremendous response from customers.”

Mack sales totaled 6,589 after five months, up 47%, producing a market share gain to 8.1% from 7.8%.

Robin Easton, treasurer of Paccar Inc., said the company’s sales were rising because the company has the best quality, broadest range of trucks “and the most profitable independent dealer network in the industry.”

Both Paccar brands have gained share this year. Kenworth sales have leaped 67.2% to 12,179, yielding a 2.2-percentage-point gain in market share to 14.9%. Peterbilt’s share is 14.1%, up 1.5 percentage points over five months, reflecting a 59% sales jump to 11,519.

Navistar has recorded a 35.2% rise in sales over five months to 15,847, but its market share has slipped to 19.4% from 20.4%.

Volvo’s volume growth of 28.9% to 8,724 has produced a 10.7% share, a slip of 1.1 percentage points.

Navistar declined to comment on May sales, and Volvo didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Not everyone was as upbeat as the manufacturers.

“New truck sales are quiet,” said Ron Remp, a Volvo dealer in Wheeling, W.Va. “There is a little quote activity. Most of the customers are taking ‘a let’s wait and see’ attitude.”

The reasons, Remp said, are the political environment, including the upcoming U.S. election and the newfound effect of European financial problems on U.S. markets.

“We are so inundated now with information about Europe and how it is affecting our markets,” said Remp, who said that other dealers he speaks with are seeing similar trends. “I don’t recall our financial markets being driven by Europe in the past.”

Remp has frequent contacts with other dealers since he represents VTNA on the American Truck Dealers board.

“The pace of sales will definitely slow,” said Chris Brady, a principal at Commercial Motor Vehicle Consulting. “Orders are dropping. The backlog isn’t there right now. Demand is mostly being stimulated by replacement; fleets are just upgrading equipment. With the economy growing at a slow pace, most fleets have capacity in place right now to meet demand.”

The year-to-year pace of sales improvement will be challenged by the fact that the fourth quarter of 2011 was particularly strong, as carriers took advantage of economic stimulus options such as bonus depreciation, Brady said.

Sales in last year’s fourth quarter topped 55,000, or about 18,500 per month, well above this year’s pace.

Sales have climbed 42.4% to 81,762, or about 16,400 per month. If the current pace continues, U.S. sales would approach 200,000 Class 8 units.