June Medium-Duty Sales Decline 9% Year-Over-Year
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U.S. retail sales for medium-duty trucks declined year-over-year in June, according to data from Wards Intelligence.
Classes 4-7 total retail truck sales decreased 9% to 19,959 from 21,924. They also were down 2% sequentially from 20,359 units in May. May's medium-duty sales fell year-over-year as well, following six consecutive months of year-over-year gains.
“I think we’re probably into a different set of issues on the retail sales side in the medium-duty space,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said. “Quite honestly, I think, we’re just starting to see, maybe, an appetite change among the buyers.”
Tam pointed out that a shortage of truck mirrors because of a fire has disrupted production of Class 8 trucks. That same disruption now also seems to be disrupting the production of medium-duty trucks.
Tam
“We have seen a little bit of that issue. Not to the same degree, probably about 6,000 units cumulatively, sitting in the penalty box on the medium-duty side. Actually, that would be enough to get the kind of downturn that you’re seeing,” he said.
The data showed that the decline was felt across every medium-duty class. Class 7 sales decreased 7.9% to 4,289 units from 4,655. Class 6 declined 10.1% to 6,095 from 6,782. Classes 4-5 decreased 8.7% to 9,575 from 10,487.
“I think it is something that we can kind of footnote, an asterisk here. The softness that we’re seeing is not a reflection of demand,” Tam noted. “The OEMs are still taking orders. They’re still producing. It’s just that they can’t accommodate the transaction with the actual delivery.”
Freightliner, a brand of Daimler Truck North America, sold the most Class 7 trucks in June at 1,829 units. Ford sold the most Class 6 trucks at 1,818 units as well as the most in Class 5 at 3,956 units. Isuzu sold the most Class 4 units at 915.
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