November Medium-Duty Sales Rise 6.1% Year-Over-Year
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U.S. retail sales for medium-duty trucks rose 6.1% year-over-year in November, bouncing back after the first decrease in seven months in October, according to data from Wards Intelligence.
Classes 4-7 saw total retail truck sales increase to 19,277 from 18,163 units. However, the latest figures fell slightly from the 19,419 units sold in October.
In the largest increase by segment, Classes 4-5 collectively saw sales rise 15.5% year-over-year to 9,596 from 8,306 units.
Class 7 saw a 5.8% climb in sales in November to 4,012 vehicles from 3,793 units. But Class 6 sales dropped 6.5% to 5,669 from 6,064 units.
Ford sold the most trucks in Classes 4 and 5 in November at 1,017 units and 3,423 vehicles, respectively.
Source: Wards Intelligence. Graphic: Transport Topics
Freightliner, a brand of Daimler Truck North America, sold the most Class 7 trucks in November at 1,615 units as well as the most in Class 6 at 1,357.
Through the first 11 months of 2023, medium-duty sales were up 8.3% year-over-year at 217,631 units from 200,869.
Class 7 sales through the first 11 months of 2023 totaled 48,732 units, an 18.6% increase compared with 41,079 trucks in the same period in 2022.
Over those 11 months, Class 6 sales totaled 71,665 units, a 10.9% rise compared with 2022’s 64,639 trucks. Sales in Classes 4 and 5 through the first 11 months of 2023 totaled 97,234, a 2.2% increase from 95,151 trucks a year earlier.
Tam
“I liked what I saw in November,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said. And sales could have been stronger in November if more trucks had been produced, Tam said, adding that OEMs’ backlog is double that of historical levels.
Labor issues hampered output for both Ford and Volvo Group’s Mack Trucks unit. “Sales definitely felt a ripple from the strikes,” Tam said.
“Thankfully it was a short-lived situation, but unfortunately the impacts from a cost perspective are going to carry on for a long time,” said Tam, noting that the higher wages the United Auto Workers union won will be baked into the cost of trucks in coming years.
Source: Wards Intelligence. Graphic: Transport Topics
Ford inked a new contract with the UAW that would raise top assembly plant worker pay by around 33% by the time the deal ends in April 2028, according to reports.
Employees at Mack Trucks’ Macungie, Pa., and Hagerstown, Md., plants were on strike for six weeks in October and November. At Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, a strike that began in September also lasted six weeks.
The Kentucky plant produces F-250 and F-350 full-size “Super Duty” pickup trucks. Deutsche Bank analysts estimate daily F-250 and F-350 production at the plant averages 729 vehicles.
Sales typically increase in December, and this year is expected to be no different.
“December is the ‘Miracle Happens Here’ month,” Tam said. “OEMs pull out all the stops.” Truck manufacturers, their employees as well as dealers have sales targets and performance targets they are hoping to meet, and December is their last chance to do so.
Source: Wards Intelligence. Graphic: Transport Topics
In addition, carriers also increase their purchases, Tam said. “A lot of buyers have a use-it-or-lose-it mentality in December.”
Many make their purchases in December because otherwise quotas for the coming year are likely to be cut, he added.
As a result of the backlog, more trucks will be delivered in the early months of 2024, Tam said, particularly after OEMs concentrated on delivering more Class 8 trucks this year.
Overall, however, ACT expects flat year-over-year sales in 2024, said Tam, adding that he did not hold out a lot of hope for anything beyond that.
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