September Medium-Duty Truck Sales Fall 9.4% Year on Year
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U.S. retail sales of medium-duty trucks fell in September, with Classes 4 through 6 seeing double-digit percentage declines, according to data from Wards Intelligence.
Overall, sales of Classes 4-7 trucks fell 9.4% year on year in September to 18,316 from 20,216 vehicles in September 2023. Four out of the nine months in 2024 have seen a year-over-year decrease.
On a month-on-month basis, the decline was even steeper, slumping 19.6% compared with 22,797 trucks in August.
However, Class 7 sales jumped 22.3% in September to 5,602 units from 4,581 in the year-ago period.
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“The medium-duty market (Classes 6-7) continues to see solid demand. Above-average economic demand has resulted in strong backlogs and industry production,” Jonathan Randall, Mack Trucks North America president, told Transport Topics in an email.
Mack sold a combined 362 Classes 6 and 7 trucks in September, compared with 412 in August.
Class 7 sales decreased 12.9% in September from 6,433 units in August, but August saw an enormous 31.7% month-over-month sales jump from 4,885 vehicles in July.
Freightliner, a brand of Daimler Truck North America, sold the most Class 7 trucks in September with 2,427 units, as well as the most Class 6 trucks at 1,487.
Class 6 sales dived 16.6% to 5,381 units from 6,450.
Demand was even worse in Classes 4 and 5, cratering 20.2% to 7,333 units from 9,185.
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A major stumbling block to higher deliveries is that upfittters are backlogged due to supply chain woes and the ongoing labor shortage, Steve Tam, vice president at ACT Research, told TT in an interview.
“There is a significant buildup of inventory that they can’t push through,” said Tam.
“It was a similar story to August in terms of substitution, with lease rental companies — including restaurant delivery specialists — blocked out of the market,” he added.
Ford sold the most Class 5 vehicles at 3,136 units, plus the highest number of Class 4 vehicles at 671.
Through the first three quarters of 2024, medium-duty sales are up 0.7% to 180,128 trucks from 178,907 units in the same period 12 months earlier.
Class 7 sales rose 6.7% through Sept. 30 to 43,555 units from 40,812 a year earlier.
Class 6 sales were down 12.8% year over year through the first nine months of 2024 to 52,275 units from 59,979.
Sales in Classes 4 and 5 through September rose 7.9% to 84,298 trucks from 78,116.
