Sept. Truck Sales Up 11.3%

This story appears in the Oct. 21 print edition of Transport Topics.

U.S. retail Class 8 truck sales rose in September for the first time in 13 months, gaining 11.3% from a year earlier for a total of 16,125 vehicles, WardsAuto.com reported.

September marked the first time sales topped 16,000 since August 2012, which also was the last time sales posted a year-over-year increase.

The sales growth was broad-based, as all truck brands showed gains in September — several with double-digit growth — with the exception of Peterbilt Motors, which slipped 7%.

Month-to-month, sales rose 5.5% from August’s 15,288, but year-to-date sales of 132,593 trucks are down 9.6% from the 2012 figure.

“There were six dealers on my weekly call [on Oct. 14], and every one of them was seeing an uptick in activity,” said Dick Witcher, chairman of the American Truck Dealers organization and CEO of Minuteman Trucks in Walpole, Mass. “They’re all feeling some movement.”

Meanwhile, medium-duty truck sales rose 3.9% in September compared with a year ago, although the 12,524 vehicle total was the lowest since February.

Wards reported that Freightliner Trucks saw its year-over-year sales rise 5.2% to 5,452 in September, while its market share topped the field at 33.8%, which was down from 34.9% in August.

Freightliner and Western Star, both made by Daimler Trucks North America, are the only brands with a positive year-to-date total compared with a year ago. Freightliner is up 4.2% to 49,493, and Western Star has gained 16.7% to just over 1,900. Western Star sold 219 trucks in September.

“Historically, we have strong orders in the fourth quarter, and our expectation is that our share will remain consistent in a difficult market,” said David Hames, DTNA’s general manager of marketing and strategy.

Wards also said that Paccar Inc., which makes Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks, saw its overall market share rise to 28.6% in September from 27.8% in August.

Kenworth had the biggest sales gain for the month, jumping 37.1% year-over-year to 2,718 trucks; Peterbilt’s sales slipped to 1,900.

Kenworth’s market share improved to 16.9% from 15.1%, while Peterbilt’s declined to 11.8% from 12.7%. Year-to-date, Kenworth’s market share was 14%, up from 13.6%, while Peterbilt’s dipped slightly to 13.2%.

Paccar declined to comment for this story.

Navistar Inc., which makes International brand trucks, saw its sales rise 9.5% year-over-year to about 2,500 units. However, its year-to-date total compared with a year ago was down 29.6%, which represented an improvement from the 33.1% comparative decline through August.

Navistar’s market share rose to 15.5% in September from 14.3% in August, while its year-to-date market share rose slightly to 14.6%, with 27,441 trucks sold.

Navistar sales have been hurt as it switched emissions technologies after its vehicles failed to meet federal standards.

Navistar said before the federal government shutdown ended that while it was too early to determine the full effect, its “defense business has been impacted as the shutdown has prohibited us from selling and delivering products to the government, collecting on what has already been delivered and conducting any contracting actions.”

Volvo Trucks saw its sales rise 23.9% to 1,783 units, while sister firm Mack Trucks’ sales were up 14.7% to 1,545. Volvo Trucks’ market share dipped to 11.1% from 11.5% in August, while Mack’s fell slightly, to 9.6% from 10%.

A Volvo spokesman declined to comment last week, citing the company’s upcoming third-quarter earnings report.

The Ward’s report follows one from ACT Research Co. earlier this month that found September truck orders jumped 27.4% to the highest level since May, suggesting that future sales have room to grow.

Two dealers in different parts of the country each said they had seen stronger sales in the past month.

“All the OEMs are looking at closing out their [model] years and are getting very aggressive about pricing,” said Kyle Treadway, president of Kenworth Sales Co. in West Valley City, Utah, which operates 20 dealerships.

“Fleets are upgrading across the board [and] lowering the age of their equipment,” Treadway told Transport Topics. “We’re seeing more activity across the board — new, leasing and rental.”

Frank Ellett, chairman of Virginia Truck Center and Charlotte Truck Center, which has six dealerships in Virginia and the Carolinas, said “sales have been busy, and we are very optimistic about what’s going on at this point.”

“Our activity level has been good, our deliveries last month were up, but it’s still a very volatile market, up and down on a weekly basis,” he added. The dealership sells Freightliner models, and two of its Virginia locations sell Macks.

Treadway and Ellett said that while the economy seemed to be improving, they were concerned about ongoing political gridlock.

Ellett added, “. . . the lack of cooperation and confusion [in Washington] is continuing to drag the economy a little bit.”