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Medium-Duty Truck Sales Fall 18.5% in April
Omdia Data Shows Classes 4-7 Retail Sales Decline From Year-Ago Levels
Key Takeaways:
- U.S. Classes 4-7 retail truck sales fell 18.5% year over year in April to 15,293 units, extending declines that began after January 2025.
- ACT Research’s Steve Tam said excess fleet capacity and weak goods-sector demand prompted large buyers to cut equipment purchases and divest older trucks.
- Class 6 sales rose 1.5% while other segments declined, with Freightliner, Ford and Isuzu leading their respective categories.
U.S. medium-duty truck sales came in below year-earlier levels in April as overcapacity and uneven market conditions continue to influence buyer behavior.
Omdia Automotive found that Classes 4-7 retail truck sales decreased 18.5% to 15,293 from 18,754 units reported during the prior-year period. The monthly data hasn’t shown a year-over-year increase since January 2025. The results were also down 10.1% sequentially from 17,019.
“The large, sophisticated buyers in this space still just have too much capacity,” said ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam. “They’re actually still trying to divest themselves of equipment. We see that in the auction sales, we see that in used truck sales.”
Tam noted that fleets have been cutting capital expenditures this year. He has observed this trend on the heavy-duty side as well, but said it is much more pronounced in the medium-duty space among large fleets.
“They’re managing their fleet by cutting off the tail,” Tam said. “You can maintain fleet age in two ways. You can replace and delete, or you can just delete, and you delete from the old end of the pool. So that’s what’s happening for them.”
Tam has seen small and midsize players in the medium-duty space grapple with an uneven market. He noted that those in the goods portion of the economy are facing anemic growth, while the services side is doing a little better.
He views this as a downstream effect of what is known as a K-shaped economy, which describes a scenario where different segments of the economy experience vastly different financial trajectories.
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Tam
“If you have a medium-duty vehicle owner who’s servicing the top portion of the K-shaped market, everything’s good,” Tam said. “But if your customers are struggling to make the house payment, the rent payment, put fuel in the vehicle or buy groceries, you’re probably having a hard time and not buying any equipment yourself.”
Omdia data showed that Class 7 sales declined 18.9% to 3,891 units from 4,799 during the prior year. Class 6 was the only segment to increase, rising 1.5% to 6,053 from 5,966. Class 5 sales decreased 35.1% to 4,301 from 6,626. Class 4 sales declined 23.1% to 1,048 from 1,363 a year earlier.
Freightliner reported the most Class 7 sales, at 1,823 units. Ford sold the most Class 6 trucks, at 3,185 units, and the most Class 5 vehicles, at 2,265. Isuzu sold the most Class 4 units, at 605.
