New Truck Sales Up 13.6%

This story appears in the May 19 print edition of Transport Topics.

U.S. retail heavy-duty truck sales totaled 17,776 in April, the highest level thus far in 2014 and 13.6% above the same month a year earlier, WardsAuto.com reported.

April also marked the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year growth and was 8% higher than the March total of 16,452.

Last month’s tally was the highest since 19,695 big trucks were sold in December, typically the busiest month of the year. Four-month cumulative sales were 62,323 units, a 14.5% increase over last year’s pace.

“The truck market in 2014 is a pleasant, somewhat unexpected, surprise,” Andy Douglas, Kenworth Truck Co.’s national sales manager for specialty markets, said at the Alternative Clean Transportation Expo in Long Beach, California, earlier this month.

The recent sales gains mirror the industry’s higher intake of new truck orders, as tracked by ACT Research Co.

Year-to-date, incoming net Class 8 orders have surged 27.5% from the same period a year earlier, pointing to more sales in the months ahead and prompting truck makers to ramp up production rates in North America, ACT said.

Given the industry’s current order backlog, which now represents about five months of work, “strong production expansion likely continues throughout the year,” analyst David Leiker said in a May 14 note to clients of Robert W. Baird & Co.

Nearly all heavy-duty truck brands posted higher April sales than a year ago, according to Ward’s.

Daimler Trucks North America’s Freightliner brand maintained its place in the market’s top position with 6,132 heavy trucks sold, up 4.6% from April 2013. For the year, Freightliner sales have edged up 0.2% to 22,235, representing 35.7% of U.S. Class 8s.

“The industry is seeing all fleet segments considering equipment replacement in 2014, to attract drivers and enhance their bottom line with smart business products like the Cascadia Evolution,” said David Hames, a DTNA general manager.

Ward’s also reported that Navistar Inc. sales of International trucks increased for a fourth straight month. Sales in April gained 13.8% to 2,668. Year-to-date, sales have climbed 23.4% to 9,962 units for a 16% market share.

“Retail [truck] sales were at their highest level for the year in April. This indicates the strong order intake of the last six months is resulting in higher production and sales,” said Bill Kozek, president of Navistar’s North American truck and parts business.

“Navistar’s Class 8 sales remained strong with steady market share in April,” Kozek said, adding that the OEM’s “medium-duty sales continue to improve, with consistent growth driving our April market share to 31%.

Industrywide medium-duty sales were 17,495 Class 4-7 vehicles in April, the highest monthly total in six years.

Paccar Inc.’s Kenworth unit sold 2,609 Class 8 trucks during the month, a 22.1% gain. Sales for the year also have increased by 22.1%, to 8,365.

Paccar’s other North American operating unit, Peterbilt Motors Co., saw sales rise 7.5% to 2,185 in April to take fifth place. Year-to-date sales increased 15.9%, to 8,246 big trucks.

Volvo Trucks achieved the month’s strongest year-over-year growth — 35.2% — with 2,284 trucks sold, putting it into fourth place. Cumulative sales have surged 52.3%, to 7,769.

The year’s “strengthened order intake, largely due to replacement demand, continues to translate into increased retail sales,” said Magnus Koeck, Volvo Trucks’ vice president of marketing and brand management. “We anticipate the market remaining strong through the remainder of the year.”

Monthly sales at Mack Trucks, also a part of Volvo Group, climbed 25.1%, to 1,639, with year-to-date sales rising 18.3%, to 4,817.

“Retail sales continue to increase as a result of replacement demand and growing customer confidence in the economy,” said John Walsh, Mack’s vice president of marketing.

“We are seeing that some customers are beginning to expand their fleets, and we are hopeful that this will continue throughout 2014,” he said, adding that demand was increasing for Mack’s Pinnacle model equipped with its mDrive automated manual transmission.

“It’s a fun time to be a truck dealer,” said Ronald Remp, president of Wheeling Truck Center Inc., a Volvo dealer in Wheeling, West Virginia.

He said the sales growth has been driven in large part by the greater fuel efficiency of new models, which is providing a strong incentive for customers to consider upgrading their older equipment.

The only nameplate to post lower sales was DTNA’s Western Star brand, which sold 258 trucks in April, down from 263 a year earlier. Year-to-date sales have slipped 10.7%, to 918 units.

Staff Reporter Michael G. Malloy contributed to this story.