Monthly Truck Sales Top 15,000; Paccar Edges Daimler for Lead

This story appears in the Jan. 30 print edition of Transport Topics.

U.S. Class 8 retail sales in December cleared 15,000, and sales leader Freightliner saw its share for the month dip below 30% as the market ended the year weaker than in 2015.

December sales were 15,629, down 24.8% compared with 20,773 a year earlier, WardsAuto.com reported.

For the year, sales fell to 192,664, down 22.6% from 248,804 in 2015.

“It was a good year, but compared with 2015, it never looked like a good year,” said Robert Dieli, chief economist at research firm MacKay and Co.

Total sales in 2016 were closer to volumes in 2013 and 2012, which were 184,784 and 194,715, respectively, according to Ward’s.

Paccar Inc.’s brands, Kenworth Truck Co. and Peterbilt Motors Co., combined to sell the most trucks in December, garnering a 33.3% market share.

Kenworth sold 3,079 trucks, a gain of 2% from a year earlier, and earned a 19.7% market share — up from 14.5% a year earlier.

Peterbilt sold 2,120 units, down 12.4% from the 2015 period, and earned a 13.6% share — up from 11.6% a year earlier.

The last time Paccar topped Daimler Trucks North America in market share was in December 2011. Dating to 2000, it has happened 10 months, according to Ward’s. DTNA’S two brands are Freightliner and Western Star.

“These results were driven by customer demand for the Kenworth T680 on-highway flagship and Kenworth T880 vocational models, and the continued strong adoption of Paccar MX engines,” Kenworth General Manager Mike Dozier said.

Kenworth also expanded its dealer network to 382 locations, Dozier said.

The Freightliner brand sold a leading 4,375 trucks in December, down 36.1% from a year earlier, and earned a 28% share, down from 33% in the 2015 period.

Western Star sold 521 trucks, 51 fewer than in the 2015 period, and earned a 3.3% market share — an increase from 2.8% a year earlier.

“We were able to battle the headwinds from the 2014 and 2015 tractor overbuy, sluggish freight environment and elevated business inventories — all factors that impacted overall industry demand in 2016,” said Markus Pfeifer, DTNA’s director of marketing operations and planning.

Sales of Volvo Trucks were 2,354, off 30.6% from a year earlier, and good for a 15.1% market share — down from 16.3% in the 2015 period.

“We feel the year-over-year decline in the Class 8 market in 2016 reflects more of a normal market level than the strong market in 2015. Throughout the year, we saw a decline in purchasing activity among longhaul and regional-haul fleets, while vocational markets reflected a modest uptick,” said Magnus Koeck, vice president of marketing and brand management for VTNA.

In related news, VTNA has canceled plans to lay off 500 second-shift employees from its New River Plant in Dublin, Virginia.

“We’ve continued to monitor the ongoing reduction in new truck inventory across the industry in the weeks since the original announcement mid-December, and we’re encouraged with the trend. Based on this, we’ve decided to not go forward at this time with the previously announced reduction so that we can maintain manufacturing flexibility as we continue to monitor the market situation,” VTNA spokesman Brandon Borgna told Transport Topics.

Mack Trucks sold 1,903 units, down 19% from a year earlier, and posted a 12.2% share — up from 11.3% a year earlier.

Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks North America are units of Sweden- based Volvo Group.

International, a brand of Navistar International Corp., sold 1,269 units, down 41.4% from a year earlier, and earned an 8.1% share — down from 10.4% in the 2015 period.

MacKay’s Dieli suggested part of what is restricting sales to the truckload sector, especially, is the success of railroads in winning intermodal business.

The shift in freight to the railroads “has been promoted by the railroads as they have found themselves with excess power capacity because coal demand and oil demand for moving those kinds of trains is down,” Dieli said.

“Is that structural change in how we are hauling freight?” he asked, adding it was an example of what could affect truck sales and who is selling trucks in 2017.