Downward spiral: Big hit for U.S., Canadian heavy duty truck sales in July

[kscarbel2]

Fleet Owner  /  August 12, 2016

U.S. sales of medium and heavy trucks in July saw their largest drop in almost seven years, and it was a similar story for sales in Canada.

Class 8 sales were the driver in both cases.

In the United States, Class 8 sales fell 39.8% compared with sales in July 2015.

International, Freightliner and Volvo had the biggest year-over-year sales losses for the class, dropping 56.7%, 46.1% and 41.2%, respectively.

In Canada, Class 8 sales were down by less but still significantly: sales fell 32.0% vs. July 2015.

Class 7 sales faired better, down 15.2% in the U.S. and rising 2.1% in Canada compared with sales a year ago. Freightliner was the top U.S. seller (up 41.9%) for Class 7 trucks but had one of the sharpest losses in Canada (down 40.9%). Peterbilt's Canadian sales fell 68.4% for the biggest drop.

For the United States, Class 6 was the best performing group. Sales rose 11.3% from a year ago. Chalk that up to gains by Ford (up 59.3%) and Freightliner (up 13.5%), but Peterbilt sales also saw gains — 7.4% — compared with July 2015.

Class 6 Canadian sales fared quite poorly last month compared with July 2015, however, falling by more than half.

Class 5 sales in the United States were about break-even last month vs. July 2015, down by only 0.3% overall. In Canada, Class 5 sales fell 9.6%.

U.S. Class 4 sales fell by 16.7% year-over-year. In Canada, Class 4 sales fell 22.0%.

The medium-duty classes were another mixed bag in the U.S. versus Canada. Ram’s Class 5 sales in July rose 56.8% in the United States but fell 11.4% in Canada compared with July 2015 sales.

Mitsubishi-Fuso’s Class 4 July sales fell 71.0% in the U.S. and 85.7% in Canada, compared with July 2015 sales.

Click here for more on U.S. truck sales for the month or here on Canadian truck sales from Ward's Auto.