August US Class 8 Retail Sales Fall 11.4% Year Over Year

Western Star sold 1,031 Class 8 trucks in August, a 42.8% jump compared with the 2023 period. (Daimler Trucks North America)

[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]

U.S. Class 8 retail sales fell year over year in August, resuming a pattern after an anomalous July saw the first increase in 11 consecutive months. Sales also fell on a month-on-month basis.

Truck sales in August fell 11.4% to 20,671 vehicles from 23,342 units last year. Sales also decreased 3.4% from 21,398 units reported in July. Year-to-date sales were down 13.6% to 155,576 units from 180,106.

“It’s very much in line with our expectations,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said. “If you seasonally adjust these numbers to an annual rate, they’re within a few thousand units of where our forecast is. We’re expecting about a 13.8% decline this year, and year-to-date we’re sitting at 13.6%. So pretty much between the lines.”

Tam noted truck manufacturers bolstered production last month to increase inventories, but that didn’t seem to lead to an increase in sales in the latest data. He expects to see a slowdown in production as a result. However, he still expects sales to pull forward eventually as carriers prepare for the implementation of various new truck emission standards.

Image

Tam 

“I think part of the challenge that the industry is up against right now is with some of the regional mandates,” Tam said. “Thinking about [California Air Resources Board] and mandating what’s going on there. I think some of their efforts, or some of their initiatives, may be hampering dealers’ ability in California, or in some of the CARB-sympathetic states that have adopted some of that regulation.”

Tam views the freight cycle continuing to run sideways as the bigger overarching issue, saying that freight is not growing fast enough to absorb the available capacity in the marketplace. That has been putting pressure on rates, profits and capital investment.

“Considering most OEMs conduct some sort of summer plant retooling in August, I’m not surprised to see a slight decrease [month to month],” said David Kriete, president of Kriete Truck Centers. “2024 is continuing to pace 10-15% less than last year, and we still believe that as we move toward ’25, toward interest rate reduction/stability, and nearer the end of the election ‘noise’ that sales will pick up in all segments of the industry — in particular, the longhaul segment.”

[September State of the Industry: NA Classes 5-8 Update] - Class 8 Industry on the Path to Normalization

Read more from the update here: https://t.co/gIb0OJt1iz pic.twitter.com/cCL9RhA5wN

— ACT Research (@actresearch) September 19, 2024

Six of the seven major Class 8 truck brands saw a year-over-year decrease in sales. Only Western Star, a unit of Daimler Truck North America, posted an increase in sales. Western Star sold 1,031 trucks in August, a 42.8% jump compared with 722 vehicles in the same period a year earlier.

“Despite overall market decline, we are quite satisfied with our recent performance,” said David Carson, senior vice president of sales and marketing at DTNA. “Demand for our vocational product lines remains strong, particularly for the Western Star 47X and 49X models, with sales up 43% compared to August 2023 and 17% over July 2024.”

Through the first eight months of the year, Western Star sold 7,077 Class 8 trucks, a 39.6% increase compared with 5,069 in the year-ago period. In that period, Western Star accounted for 4.5% of Class 8 sales, up from 2.8% in 2023.

“In the On-Highway segment, we continue to navigate a challenging freight rate environment, prompting the industry to recalibrate capacity in response to fluctuating demand, resulting in a less favorable year-over-year trend,” Carson said. “However, with the mirror supply issue now resolved, sales for our Freightliner On-Highway products have stabilized, increasing by 1% compared to July 2024.”

Freightliner, also a brand of DTNA, won the largest market share in August with 7,654 trucks sold, accounting for 37% of all sales in the month, yet its volume decreased 6.2% from 8,158 in August 2023. Sales for Navistar’s International brand saw the biggest year-over-year decrease, falling 27.2% to 2,612 trucks from 3,587.

“While the freight market continues to navigate challenges, Mack Trucks stands strong in the vocational segment where we see continued demand across North America,” said Jonathan Randall, president of Mack Trucks North America. “Our performance reflects the ongoing vitality in construction and manufacturing. Mack’s unwavering focus on delivering purpose-built trucks for these demanding applications continues to resonate with customers who recognize the value of power, durability and efficiency in driving their bottom line.”

Kenworth Truck Co. saw sales fall 15.5% to 3,119 from 3,689, while Peterbilt Motors Co. sales declined 9.9% to 3,115 units from 3,458. Peterbilt and Kenworth are Paccar Inc. brands. Volvo Trucks North America sales decreased 18.5% to 1,735 vehicles from 2,130. Mack Trucks sales slid 13% to 1,391 units from 1,598 in the year-ago period. Mack and VTNA are brands of Volvo Group.