June Truck Sales Plunge 57.9%
Level Is Lowest Since March ’03
By Jonathan S. Reiskin, Associate News Editor
This story appears in the July 23 print edition of Transport Topics.
Class 8 June truck sales plummeted by 57.9% from a year ago to the lowest level since March 2003, when the last sales bust after a regulation-induced pre-buy was ending.
The fall-off reported by Ward’s Communications, Southfield, Mich., was the most substantial so far this year. Cumulatively for the first half of 2007, heavy-duty U.S. truck sales are 37.8% below the same time a year ago.
Data from R.L. Polk & Co. corroborated the sales information by demonstrating steep declines in the registration of new U.S. Class 8 vehicles.
Original equipment manufacturers sold 10,632 heavy-duty trucks in June, down from 25,240 a year ago. The six-month figure was 87,275, down from 140,209 in 2006.
Freightliner Trucks lost more than two-thirds of its June 2006 sales. As a result, Paccar Inc. eclipsed Freightliner LLC for the monthly lead in market share as measured at the corporate level.
“Coming out of the massive pre-buy with a market already saturated with new trucks, we certainly an-ticipated significantly weaker demand. Freight demand is still relatively weak, which is also suppressing demand for new trucks,” said Mack Trucks spokesman John Walsh in assessing the overall sales environment.
Walsh said it is still “difficult to assess” the second half of this year, but the company does anticipate improvement in sales levels in 2008.
Roy Wiley, spokesman for International Truck and Engine Corp., said managers at his company have backed away from earlier estimates that there would be a second-half sales rebound.
“Now, we’re thinking there might be a fourth-quarter pickup. People are still holding off on sales, but I think we’re pretty near the bottom,” Wiley said.
The Polk report said Class 8 gross-vehicle-weight-rating registrations in the United States were down 41.6% in May and 26.6% for the first five months cumulatively, both on a year-over-year basis.
Freightliner Trucks’ June sales fell 67.6% to 2,047 units from 6,310 a year ago. It was the largest drop-off of any OEM.
However, Freightliner LLC’s two smaller brands — Sterling Trucks and Western Star Trucks — experienced the least deterioration. Sterling sold 916 big trucks in June, down 34.1% from 1,391 vehicles last year, and Western Star sold 188, down 30.1% from 269 units.
Peterbilt Motors sold 1,811 Class 8s in June, down 48.3% from 3,502 trucks last year. At Kenworth Trucks, which, like Peterbilt, is a Paccar company, sales were 1,565 vehicles, down 51.9% from 3,254 a year ago.
Representative of both corporations declined to comment for this article.
On a combined basis, Paccar companies sold 31.8% of June’s Class 8s and Freightliner LLC controlled 29.6% of the market. As recently as May, Freightliner LLC had a 34.4% market share and Paccar held second place with 29.4%.
International experienced a 60.7% decline from last June to this one. It sold 1,945 Class 8s compared with 4,953 last year.
Mack had a 62.4% fall-off to 1,037 heavy trucks from 2,759 in June 2006. Walsh said the company is fighting not just the industrywide sales slump, but also the national downturn in housing.
“The slump in housing construction has been a factor for us, affecting demand for both our vocational products — dumps and mixers in particular — as well as our highway tractors used in local and regional hauling,” Walsh said.
Volvo Trucks North America, a sister company to Mack within Sweden’s Volvo AB, experienced a 63.2% fall in heavy-truck sales to 967 units from 2,631 a year ago.
“A number of customers took delivery of trucks in late 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 as part of the pre-buy,” said VTNA spokesman James McNamara.
“So many fleets simply do not need to buy trucks at this time,” he continued.
The pre-buy effect refers to truckload and other fleets that bought a large portion of their normal 2007 complement of vehicles in 2006, ahead of the Jan. 1, 2007, change in federal emission regulations for diesel engines. This year’s models, while cleaner, are also more expensive. As a result, sales boomed last year to the highest level ever, as truck buyers sought to lessen their need for 2007 engines.
The last time there was a similar regulatory change was Oct. 1, 2002. Sales rose leading up to that date and then fell substantially.
For the first quarter of 2003, monthly U.S. sales of heavy-duty trucks ranged from 8,124 to 8,808 units. The June 2007 level is the lowest since then.
McNamara and Walsh said Volvo and Mack are trying to seed the ground to boost sales in the near future.
Mack kicked off its Performance Tour in June, as “part of our effort to give customers experience with the U.S. ’07 engines and technology, so as to build confidence in the new engines and support dealers’ sales efforts,” Walsh said. McNamara cited a similar effort by Volvo.
Similarly, Wiley said International has been briefing its customers on the increased fuel-efficiency of the company’s ProStar line of highway tractors.
This story appears in the July 23 print edition of Transport Topics.
Class 8 June truck sales plummeted by 57.9% from a year ago to the lowest level since March 2003, when the last sales bust after a regulation-induced pre-buy was ending.
The fall-off reported by Ward’s Communications, Southfield, Mich., was the most substantial so far this year. Cumulatively for the first half of 2007, heavy-duty U.S. truck sales are 37.8% below the same time a year ago.
Data from R.L. Polk & Co. corroborated the sales information by demonstrating steep declines in the registration of new U.S. Class 8 vehicles.
Original equipment manufacturers sold 10,632 heavy-duty trucks in June, down from 25,240 a year ago. The six-month figure was 87,275, down from 140,209 in 2006.
Freightliner Trucks lost more than two-thirds of its June 2006 sales. As a result, Paccar Inc. eclipsed Freightliner LLC for the monthly lead in market share as measured at the corporate level.
“Coming out of the massive pre-buy with a market already saturated with new trucks, we certainly an-ticipated significantly weaker demand. Freight demand is still relatively weak, which is also suppressing demand for new trucks,” said Mack Trucks spokesman John Walsh in assessing the overall sales environment.
Walsh said it is still “difficult to assess” the second half of this year, but the company does anticipate improvement in sales levels in 2008.
Roy Wiley, spokesman for International Truck and Engine Corp., said managers at his company have backed away from earlier estimates that there would be a second-half sales rebound.
“Now, we’re thinking there might be a fourth-quarter pickup. People are still holding off on sales, but I think we’re pretty near the bottom,” Wiley said.
The Polk report said Class 8 gross-vehicle-weight-rating registrations in the United States were down 41.6% in May and 26.6% for the first five months cumulatively, both on a year-over-year basis.
Freightliner Trucks’ June sales fell 67.6% to 2,047 units from 6,310 a year ago. It was the largest drop-off of any OEM.
However, Freightliner LLC’s two smaller brands — Sterling Trucks and Western Star Trucks — experienced the least deterioration. Sterling sold 916 big trucks in June, down 34.1% from 1,391 vehicles last year, and Western Star sold 188, down 30.1% from 269 units.
Peterbilt Motors sold 1,811 Class 8s in June, down 48.3% from 3,502 trucks last year. At Kenworth Trucks, which, like Peterbilt, is a Paccar company, sales were 1,565 vehicles, down 51.9% from 3,254 a year ago.
Representative of both corporations declined to comment for this article.
On a combined basis, Paccar companies sold 31.8% of June’s Class 8s and Freightliner LLC controlled 29.6% of the market. As recently as May, Freightliner LLC had a 34.4% market share and Paccar held second place with 29.4%.
International experienced a 60.7% decline from last June to this one. It sold 1,945 Class 8s compared with 4,953 last year.
Mack had a 62.4% fall-off to 1,037 heavy trucks from 2,759 in June 2006. Walsh said the company is fighting not just the industrywide sales slump, but also the national downturn in housing.
“The slump in housing construction has been a factor for us, affecting demand for both our vocational products — dumps and mixers in particular — as well as our highway tractors used in local and regional hauling,” Walsh said.
Volvo Trucks North America, a sister company to Mack within Sweden’s Volvo AB, experienced a 63.2% fall in heavy-truck sales to 967 units from 2,631 a year ago.
“A number of customers took delivery of trucks in late 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 as part of the pre-buy,” said VTNA spokesman James McNamara.
“So many fleets simply do not need to buy trucks at this time,” he continued.
The pre-buy effect refers to truckload and other fleets that bought a large portion of their normal 2007 complement of vehicles in 2006, ahead of the Jan. 1, 2007, change in federal emission regulations for diesel engines. This year’s models, while cleaner, are also more expensive. As a result, sales boomed last year to the highest level ever, as truck buyers sought to lessen their need for 2007 engines.
The last time there was a similar regulatory change was Oct. 1, 2002. Sales rose leading up to that date and then fell substantially.
For the first quarter of 2003, monthly U.S. sales of heavy-duty trucks ranged from 8,124 to 8,808 units. The June 2007 level is the lowest since then.
McNamara and Walsh said Volvo and Mack are trying to seed the ground to boost sales in the near future.
Mack kicked off its Performance Tour in June, as “part of our effort to give customers experience with the U.S. ’07 engines and technology, so as to build confidence in the new engines and support dealers’ sales efforts,” Walsh said. McNamara cited a similar effort by Volvo.
Similarly, Wiley said International has been briefing its customers on the increased fuel-efficiency of the company’s ProStar line of highway tractors.
