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Buyer Reluctance Keeps Medium-Duty Truck Sales Down
May Medium-Duty Truck Sales Decrease 4.7% to 17,663 Units
Key Takeaways:
- U.S. Classes 4-7 retail truck sales fell 4.7% in May to 17,663 units from 18,532 a year earlier.
- ACT Research’s Steve Tam said buyer reluctance reflects uncertainty, with medium-duty trucks closely tied to consumer goods and services.
- Sales rose 15.5% from April, while Class 6 was the only segment to post a year-over-year increase.
The U.S. medium-duty truck market continued to show signs of buyer reluctance in May, with sales remaining below the prior year, according to data from Omdia Automotive.
Classes 4-7 retail truck sales decreased 4.7% to 17,663 from 18,532 in May 2025. The monthly data has trended below the previous year since January 2025. ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam noted the medium-duty market is seeing a lack of commitment from buyers due to uncertainty, much like their heavy-duty counterparts.
“From a bigger perspective in the medium-duty space, nothing has changed,” Tam said. “Everything we said about Class 8 applies times two for the medium-duty folks. They’re just much more closely tied to what’s happening on the consumer side of the economy, and not just goods but also the services.”
Sequentially, however, sales increased 15.5% from 15,293 units in April.
Class 7 truck sales declined 2.8% to 4,323 units from 4,445 a year ago. Class 6 sales experienced the only increase, rising 19.6% to 7,096 units from 5,933. Tam suspects some of that gain can be explained by Ford upgrading and repositioning its F-550 trucks into the class. Class 5 sales declined 27.6% to 5,017 units from 6,927. Class 4 sales were unchanged at 1,227 units.
Best-in-Class Results
- Freightliner sold the most Class 7 trucks at 2,159 units.
- Ford sold the most Class 6 trucks at 3,764 units.
- Ford sold the most Class 5 trucks at 2,334 units.
- Isuzu sold the most Class 4 trucks at 652 units.
