Medium-Duty Truck Sales Dip 1% in August Year Over Year
[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
U.S. retail sales of medium-duty trucks experienced a slight year-over-year decline in August, according to data from Wards Intelligence.
Classes 4-7 total retail truck sales for the month declined 1% to 22,797 units compared with 23,026 in the year-ago period. But sales still increased 9.6% sequentially from the 20,792 reported in July. It marked the third month this year that saw a year-over-year decline.
Class 7 sales increased 11.2% to 6,433 units from 5,783. Class 6 sales increased 1.2% to 6,584 units from 6,503. Classes 4 and 5 fell 8.9% to 9,780 units from 10,740. Freightliner, a brand of Daimler Truck North America, sold the most Class 7 trucks during the month at 2,763 units, and the most Class 6 trucks at 1,791. Ford sold the most in Class 5 at 4,197 units, and the most Class 4 trucks at 910.
“That’s the best Class 7 number the industry has seen in quite some time,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said. “If you think about who some of the big customers for Class 7 trucks are, that’s going to be essentially, let’s say, a 24- to 27-foot box truck. And so, it’s going to be those lease and one-way rental companies who are the largest single identifiable group of customers for that space.”
Tam
Tam added that the lease rental companies have seen some unevenness in their replacement strategies over the past few years. He is optimistic they have gained some traction, but the underlying demand isn’t clear. He suspects many are viewing Class 7 trucks as a potential short-term substitute for Class 8.
“You’re under CDL, which is probably the single largest consideration in that regard,” Tam said. “Then there’s the whole cost issue, too. A Class 7 truck is going to be considerably less expensive than the tractor and trailer combination. So, I think folks that can get away with it are looking to the heavy end of the medium-duty market.”
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below or go here for more info:
