Trailer Sales Rise 47% to Record 344,000

TT File Photo

Trailer sales in 1998 kept pace with the strong showing of Class 8 trucks, setting a record of their own with shipment of 344,007 complete trailers and chassis.

Year-end figures published by the Truck Trailer Manufacturer’s Association showed the total to be 47.3% above the 1997 figure of 233,483 and 64,863 — or about 23% — above the previous record year, 1995.

Although TTMA President Richard P. Bowling said that a “direct relationship” between truck sales and trailer sales could not be discerned from a study of yearly sales, the two markets seem to have run parallel to each other in recent years.

Class 8 trucks in 1998 reported total sales of 209,483, 17% over 1997 and 4% above previous record for Class 8 sales — which was set in 1995, just as was the case with trailers.

The TTMA’s figures were derived from U.S. Bureau of Census reports and are stated in terms of shipments. Although shipment numbers do not correspond precisely to sales, they are close.

“As close as we can come with the figures we have,” said Richard P. Bowling, president of the association.

For the full story, see the Feb. 22 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.