By Jonathan S. Reiskin, Associate News Editor This story appears in the Aug. 20 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
U.S. retail medium-duty truck sales totaled 12,483 vehicles in July, a 15.8% improvement over the 10,779 sold a year earlier, WardsAuto.com reported.
Although all three major weight groups showed monthly gains, there were some reports of slowness.
See related story: Heavy-Duty Truck Sales Rise 27.4% in July (TT subscription or 14-day pass required.)
Classes 4-7 sales — as tracked by Ward’s, Southfield, Mich. — have been increasing since December 2009 but at a slower pace than heavy-duty commercial trucks.
“We were flat in July, hitting a soft patch, but we did much better in the first half through June,” said David Yglesias, whose Palmetto Truck Center sells Fords and specialty commercial vehicles.
For the first seven months of the year, medium-duty volume was 86,960 vehicles, a 12.6% increase over the year-ago period.
“After the big growth in 2011, medium-duty has been in a steady state of growth on autopilot. It’s been a very moderate, measured growth,” said Steve Tam, a vice president of ACT Research Co., Columbus, Ind.
Tam also said orders for medium-duty trucks have been steady in recent months and property values have recovered enough that property tax revenues for local governments are on the rise, allowing them to purchase more vehicles.
Class 7 sales rose by 19.5% to 4,101 trucks from 3,431 in July 2011. The cumulative volume grew 17.7% to 28,076 units.
Class 6 sales returned to growth after three months in decline. The monthly volume was 3,242 trucks, a 23.8% leap over 2,618 a year ago. The robust July meant year-to-date sales are down only 0.7% to 23,298 vehicles.
Class 6 is the only group that has contracted thus far in 2012. It is the heaviest category where a driver does not need a commercial driver license.
Classes 4 and 5 combined had sales rise by 8.7% to 5,140 trucks from 4,730 in the year-ago month. The seven-month volume is up 18.9% to 35,586 vehicles.
The Ward’s report said the market share leaders after seven months are Daimler Trucks North America in Class 7, Navistar International Corp. in Class 6 and Ford in the combined Classes 4 and 5.
Yglesias, who represents Ford dealers for the American Truck Dealers, said there is a wide range of results among medium-duty market niches.
He said state and local governments in Florida are buying vehicles to begin infrastructure projects, truck exports to South and Central America are strong and municipal governments and vocational fleets are very interested in compressed natural gas.
In contrast, a recent meeting with other dealers said results from the Midwest and California revealed weaker sales volumes in July, comparable to those in Florida.
