December Truck Sales Soar 78%

This story appears in the Jan. 23 print edition of Transport Topics.

U.S. truckers closed out the year with a surge of heavy-duty truck buying that led to the highest-volume month and highest-volume year since 2006, according to data from WardsAuto.com. Sales boomed 78.3% in December and 59.9% for the year, compared with 2010.

The Jan. 12 report said original equipment manufacturers sold 20,939 Class 8 trucks last month, compared with 11,742 in December 2010. The annual U.S. total jumped to 171,358 from 107,152 in 2010.

Sales have been highly volatile in recent years, rising to a record in 2006 and then falling to an extraordinarily low level in 2009. The 2011 figure was fairly typical by historical standards, the fifth-best year in the last 12.

Volvo Trucks recorded the most explosive growth for both the month and the year, with gains of 170.1% and 108.8%, respectively.

“The performance of our broad dealer network helped achieve an improved customer mix, and our fuel-efficiency leadership means we’re well-positioned as fleets intensify their focus on lowering fuel costs,” Ron Huibers, Volvo’s president of North American truck sales and marketing, said in a statement on the Ward’s report.

Huibers also gave credit to Volvo’s in-house engine and transmission options for pushing December sales to 3,276 vehicles from 1,213 a year earlier. Annual sales rose to 20,955 units, as Volvo was the fourth most popular brand for the month and fifth most popular for the year.

“Kenworth had a bang-up good year, but that was driven by pockets of high sales in the energy patch,” said Cooper Sykes, a Kenworth Trucks dealer with 10 locations in North Carolina.

Kenworth sales more than doubled for the month, jumping 105.3% to 3,074 from 1,497. Annual sales rose 94.3% to 22,577 big trucks, giving the OEM fifth place for the month and fourth for the year.

Peterbilt Motors, like Kenworth a part of Paccar Inc., was third for the month and year, posting a 93.2% increase in December as sales jumped to 3,327 units from 1,722.

Annual sales rose 89.4% to 24,583 units.

Kenworth and Peterbilt executives have said recently that energy-sector sales have been very good but also that they have increased business with for-hire carriers in general.

Sykes said he hopes the sales recovery does not stall because the gain has yet to hit the Tar Heel state. Companies working in or with the oil, natural gas and coal industries have been able to buy a lot of trucks this year, he said, but North Carolina’s staples of tobacco, textiles, furniture and construction are not booming at all. Sykes said his heavy-duty sales volume rose just 10% from 2010 to 2011.

“We’ve bottomed out, and there’s been improvement but not 100%,” said Sykes of the North Carolina trucking economy — and the Southeast in general.

Freightliner remained the top-selling brand for the year nationally and is producing at close to capacity. At a recent event, two of the OEM’s top executives said the company soon will hire more production workers to expand capacity and that last year’s production was completely booked up by mid-May, which may have led customers to shop elsewhere for trucks (1-16, p. 3).

Freightliner sold 5,461 trucks last month, a 59.7% increase over the 3,419 the previous December. Annual sales rose 50.6% to 52,276 heavy trucks.

Mack Trucks, a part of the Volvo Group, came in sixth for the month and year. The company sold 1,720 big trucks for the month, a 10.3% improvement over the 1,559 at the end of 2010. Annual sales rose 40.4% to 12,928.

Cement mixers and dump trucks have long been a key part of Mack’s business, and with the construction industry still in the doldrums, its sales have not rebounded as strongly as some. In 2011, Mack emphasized selling its Pinnacle highway tractors to over-the-road carriers.

Western Star Trucks, a sister company to Freightliner within Daimler Trucks North America, manufactures trucks in small numbers for some of the most severe-service applications. The company enjoyed a 137.6% increase as monthly sales jumped to 278 heavy trucks from 117. Annual sales rose 78.5% to 2,090 vehicles.

During the year, there were some changes on the corporate level at the four OEMs that produce the seven brands of heavy-duty trucks.

Kenworth and Peterbilt, the Paccar companies, combined to eclipse DTNA’s two brands for the lead in monthly sales in December. DTNA’s Freightliner and Western Star Trucks usually combine for first place.

Paccar also switched places with Navistar in 2011 market share, moving up to second place from third.

And Volvo Group remained in fourth place but, based on growth at Volvo Trucks, closed the gap with third-place Navistar.