June Class 8 Truck Sales Rise 11%

This story appears in the July 19 print edition of Transport Topics.

Retail sales of heavy-duty trucks in the United States climbed for a sixth straight month, rising 11.1% in June from year-ago levels, and are now up by 13.3% for the year to date, according to WardsAuto.com.

Original equipment manufacturers and their dealers sold 8,896 Class 8 trucks last month, up from 8,006 in June 2009, Ward’s said after its July 13 survey. First-half sales of 49,257 units were up from 43,457 last year.

Separately, ACT Research Co. said it expects heavy-duty truck production will accelerate during the second half of the year, as several OEMs announced details of improving orders. However, sales performance was mixed, with four manufacturers posting volume gains and the same number reporting contractions, and dealers noting that sales still are far from robust. Medium-duty sales, led by Classes 3 and 6, increased more substantially (click here for p. 5 story, this issue).

“Class 8 is still pretty anemic. It’s better, but compared with a terrible last year,” said Frank Ellett, whose Virginia Truck Centers chain sells Daimler Trucks and Macks out of seven locations in three states.

“Medium-duty is better than heavy-duty, but the real star is used trucks. We’re selling 2½ times more used trucks than we did last year,” Ellett said.

“We had a very strong beginning of the year, but then sales dropped off,” said Duane Kyrish of Longhorn International, with nine Texas locations. Kyrish said he is more optimistic about sales to come rather than performance to date.

“Truck tonnage is up, and that’s a good indicator for raw materials and finished goods. There’s a lot of pent-up demand out there, but many buyers are still on the sidelines, making do with what they’ve got,” Kyrish said.

ACT said July 13 it now estimates North American production of Class 8 trucks will increase by 26% over the 2009 level. Earlier, ACT had predicted production would rise 18% in the first half and accelerate later in the year.

“Key building blocks to support improved demand . . . are coming into alignment,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s senior analyst and partner.

“On the transportation side, all major freight indicators are solidly positive, which has allowed truckload hauling capacity to tighten rapidly. This, in turn, is allowing freight rates to rise and sets the stage for materially stronger trucker profits. And with used truck values steadily rising, trucking companies are now in a good position to replace an aged fleet,” Vieth said.

Ward’s reported that Daimler Trucks North America and Navi-star Inc. continued their battle for heavy-duty leadership, with Navi-star’s International brand taking top spot for the month, but Daimler’s Freightliner keeping the six-month market share lead.

Navistar sold 2,884 Internationals, a 4.8% increase over the 2,752 sold in June 2009. Six-month sales jumped 10.8% to 14,217 heavy trucks.

Freightliner moved 2,658 of its Class 8s for the month, a 37.4% improvement over 1,934 the previous June. Half-year sales are up 34.4% to 15,787 units.

Peterbilt Motors and Kenworth Trucks, both units of Paccar Inc., took third and fourth places for the month, even though their volumes declined.

Peterbilt sales of big trucks fell 15.4% in June to 877 from 1,037. Year to date, though, they rose 11.2% to 5,708 vehicles.

Kenworth was off 7.6% to 823 heavy trucks, compared with 891 in June 2009. For the six months, volume crept up 2.3% to 4,903 units.

Volvo AB’s two domestic OEMs moved in different directions, as Volvo Trucks North America sales soared by 77.6% in June and Mack Trucks dipped by 1.4%.

VTNA customers bought 776 Class 8s, up from 437. Half-year sales rose 11.3% to 3,884 units. Mack sold 614 trucks last month, down from 623 the previous June. However, cumulative sales are up 22.6% to 3,820 vehicles.

On July 12, Mack announced a major deal, with Chrysler Group ordering 325 Pinnacle day cabs — all to be delivered this year. Chrysler operates a private fleet to move parts and components among its facilities around the Great Lakes.

The following day, Volvo and Mack issued a joint statement that the two companies, combined, have topped the 10,000-order mark this year for North American Class 8 trucks equipped with 2010-compliant diesel engines. In 2009, the two companies combined for sales of 14,692 Class 8s in the United States. Daimler said it has received about 22,000 orders.

Daimler’s two smaller U.S. brands finished seventh and eighth and also moved in opposite directions. Western Star sold 130 big trucks, or more than three times as many as the 42 that moved in June 2009. Year-to-date sales are up 34.2% to 467 units.

The discontinued Sterling brand had a similar monthly volume, 132 units, but that was a 54.2% decrease from 288 the previous June. Cumulative volume plummeted 76.8% to 461 vehicles.

Sterling ceased new production of trucks in March 2009, and Brian O’Donnell of Valley Freightliner, Cleveland, said Daimler’s sales incentives to move the inventory ended June 30.