Truck Equipment Suppliers Say Sales Boom Is Under Way

OUISVILLE, Ky. — A long-term boom in Class 8 truck sales is under way and likely to last into 2006, said several manufacturers exhibiting here at the nation’s largest truck show, but the extent depends on how well component suppliers adjust to truck and engine makers’ rising production rates.

The manufacturers, in a series of press conferences here that preceded the opening of the Mid-America Trucking Show March 25-27, also said they had told their truck-buying customers that the new vehicles would cost more.

A combination of lower insurance premiums, better financing terms, rising freight tonnage and the need to replace aging trucks — plus the desire by fleets to buy new trucks ahead of the 2007 shift in emissions regulations — have caused sales to accelerate, several truck builders said.