November Truck Sales Jump 77%

Heavy-duty U.S. truck sales continued their robust expansion in November, jumping 77% from the same month in 2010 and surging past the 57.7% growth rate for the year’s first 11 months, according to a Dec. 12 report from WardsAuto.com.

Original equipment manufacturers and their dealers sold 17,020 Class 8 trucks last month, up from 9,614 the previous November, Ward’s said. The year-to-date tally has soared to 150,419 vehicles from 95,410 the same period in 2010. Monthly sales topped the 17,000 mark for the second straight month, a feat last accomplished in January 2007.

Navistar Inc., Volvo Trucks and the Paccar Inc. units of Kenworth Trucks and Peterbilt Motors led the charge with monthly growth rates ranging from 99% to 122%, but all OEMs posted sales gains.

“Ongoing replacement demand fueled a very productive month in November, and we look to build on that momentum as we close out the year,” said Ron Huibers, a Volvo senior vice president. “We anticipate highway customers in all segments will stretch their replacement cycles well into 2012,” he said.

Volvo estimated 2012 sales will advance about 20% beyond this year’s level.

“We just got an order for 140 trucks from a private fleet. This is the best it’s been in quite a while. There’s been a lot of pent-up demand, and the big fleets were buying, but now the small- and medium-size fleets are buying, too,” said Duane Kyrish, who sells Navistar’s International trucks at nine Texas locations and represents International dealers in a dealership trade group.

After 11 months of Class 8 sales, 2011 is the best year for the industry since 2007, and even if December features no growth from last year, 2011 will top the 2007 level.

“2011 has been a good, solid year,” said dealer Ron Remp of Wheeling, W.Va., who represents Volvo dealers at the American Truck Dealers. “I certainly see things staying good at least through the first quarter of next year. 2011 sales were based on replacement orders, but with freight rates staying good, I think 2012 will see more replacements and actual growth,” he said.

Among the seven major brands, Ward’s said, Freightliner Trucks kept first place for both November and the year to date. Monthly sales for the main nameplate of Daimler Trucks North America rose 49.5%, year-over-year, to 4,872 trucks from 3,259. Cumulative sales are up 49.6% to 46,815 vehicles.

Navistar’s monthly sales jumped 104.6% to 3,208 big trucks, from 1,568 last year. In October, the company closed out its fiscal year with a 174% monthly increase (11-21, p. 1). Eleven-month sales are up 29.9% to 32,126 vehicles, the lowest cumulative growth rate among OEMs.

Peterbilt took third place, selling 2,602 heavy trucks, a 121.3% increase over the 1,176 the previous November. That was the highest monthly growth rate by an OEM. Year-to-date sales leapt 88.8% to 21,256 vehicles.

Volvo’s 105.1% increase to 2,539 Class 8s, from 1,238, gave the company fourth place for the month. Cumulative sales soared 100.4% to 17,679 units — the only OEM to double sales for the year to date.

Kenworth came close, however, finishing fifth in monthly sales with a 99.2% increase to 2,355 big trucks, from last year’s 1,182. Eleven-month sales jumped 92.6% to 19,503 units.

Mack Trucks, like Volvo part of the Volvo Group, finished sixth for the month, selling 1,270 large vehicles, a 21.3% improvement from 1,047 a year ago. The cumulative total rose 46.5% to 11,208 units.

DTNA’s Western Star line of severe-service trucks grew by 19.6% to 171 units from 143 for the month. It was the lowest monthly growth rate by an OEM. Year-to-date sales were up 71.9% to 1,812 vehicles.

After 11 months, there have been five major shifts in market share among the seven brands. Peterbilt added 2.3 percentage points to take 14.1% of U.S. sales. Volvo took another 2.6 points to 11.8%, while Kenworth added 2.4 points to 13%.

The gains mainly came at the expense of Navistar and DTNA. Navistar fell 4.5 points to 21.4%, while Daimler’s case is more complicated.

In 2010, Daimler was selling off the last of its discontinued Sterling models. The three brands combined controlled 34.4% of sales after 11 months. So far this year, the two DTNA brands have 32.3%, making for a decrease of 2.1 points, 1.7 of which are attributable to Freightliner.