February Heavy-Duty Truck Sales Soar 58.8%

U.S. heavy-duty truck sales continued to surge in February, as fleets and owner-operators bought 15,418 Class 8s, a 58.8% jump over the 9,712 sold a year earlier, WardsAuto.com reported March 12.

Year-to-date, total volume rose 55.9% to 29,537 from 18,948 in last year’s first two months, Ward’s said. All seven truck brands reported growth in February and for the year to date, overcoming earlier problems associated with a brake-part recall.

February was the 26th straight month of expansion in U.S. retail truck sales, which hit bottom in December 2009.

“We closed the year with a really strong push, better than we had expected. January was down relative to that, but with February and early March we’re back,” said Eric Jorgensen, CEO of JX Enterprises, a chain of 15 Peterbilt Motors dealerships in four states around the Great Lakes.

Peterbilt executives have spoken of surging sales to North American oil and natural gas producers, but Jorgensen said his customers are buying trucks to haul general freight, much of it related to Midwestern manufacturing growth.

Truck buyers in the Southeast clung to used-truck purchases as long as possible, but in the past three to five months fleets have bought new trucks at an accelerating pace, said Richard Ryan, president of Carolina International Trucks, Columbia, S.C. “People had been spending money to keep their older trucks going, but they’ve decided it’s time to pull the trigger now. They’re going back to normal — 4½ to 5½ years — on their trade cycles. It’s not a barnburner, but there’s steady increasing,” Ryan said.

Jorgensen and Ryan are representatives for their respective brands on the American Truck Dealers board of directors.

“Daimler Trucks North America’s strong share performance in January and February is consistent with our expectations for the remainder of the year and is the end result of our strategy emphasizing fuel economy, low cost of ownership and overall ease of doing business,” said David Hames, general manager of marketing and strategy for DTNA.

“These are all attributes that customers in the market today are keenly interested in, following the recent recession. . . . We are pleased to have one of the strongest backlogs in the industry,” said Hames.

Freightliner, DTNA’s main truck brand, finished first in February market share, the Ward’s report said. The company sold 5,760 Class 8s for the month, a 47.7% increase over the 3,900 units during the same month last year. Two-month sales rose 45.7% to 10,300 big trucks.

Navistar Inc. sold 2,628 Internationals, taking second for the month, a 75.9% increase over the 1,494 sold a year ago. Year-to-date volume jumped 59.3% to 6,004 trucks.

Kenworth Trucks and Peterbilt, both divisions of Paccar Inc., took third and fourth places for the month. Kenworth’s sales have been the most explosive of any brand so far this year.

Kenworth sold 2,437 heavy trucks for the month, a 132.5% leap over the 1,048 sold a year ago. The two-month volume is 113% greater than it was in 2011, rising to 4,435. Kenworth management was not available for comment.

Peterbilt sold 2,035 big trucks in February, a 98.5% increase over the year-ago level. Year-to-date sales rose 87.5% to 4,063 units, Ward’s said.

Sales at Volvo Trucks have been very volatile recently but returned to growth mode in February. In December, the company’s sales erupted by 170%, year-over-year. In January, they contracted by 5.2% as the company cited difficulties related to the safety recall of traction relay valves by Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems (2-20, p. 1). Volvo uses more of the Bendix safety system than any other single heavy-duty truck brand.

In February, Volvo sold 1,354 heavy trucks to take fifth for the month, a 6.5% improvement over the 1,271 a year ago. Cumulative volume rose 2% to 2,114 vehicles. Volvo’s rate of growth was the lowest of any OEM. Mack Trucks, also a part of Volvo, posted a 21.3% gain, moving 1,020 big trucks, up from 841. Mack’s two-month total rose 45.4% to 2,221 vehicles.

Western Star Trucks, the niche line of DTNA specializing in severe-duty applications, had a 38.3% increase for the month to 184 trucks from 133. Cumulative sales rose 54.9% to 398 units.