Truck Sales Slump May Last 3 Years

The Federal Reserve’s Jan. 3 cut in short-term interest rates is not likely to have an immediate impact on the sale of new and used trucks, despite increasingly aggressive sales promotions manufacturers and dealers are taking.

Stuart MacKay, president of MacKay and Associates, which has just completed a major study of the used-truck market, was pessimistic.

The rate cut will provide marginal help, “perhaps easing the terms offered by some finance organizations,” he said.

But he said the problem is a combination of declining freight business and an oversupply of trucks — perhaps as many as 72,000 Class 8s.

And MacKay does not think the problem will be solved soon. “I would guess around 2003,” he said.

For the full story, see the Jan. 15 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.