U.S. Class 8 Sales Still Lag Behind Year-Ago

[kscarbel2]

Wards Auto  /  November 13, 2017

With a booming 27.0% spike in October, hitting 36,494 deliveries, U.S. medium and heavy trucks were finally able to catch up to 2016 year-to-date sales, enough to put this year 0.4% ahead with 336,176 units compared to 2016’s 334,879.

Class 8 came out 36.9% ahead in October with 17,928 deliveries. Daimler’s Freightliner (+50.7%) and Western Star (+20.1%) kept them on top with combined sales of 6,707. Mack Truck fell 3.2% but Volvo Truck’s 10.3% gain kept Volvo Group in the positive. Year-to-date sales totaled 152,409, still 6.6% behind year-ago’s 163,092, leaving Class 8 the only sector to fall short for the year.

Medium-duty truck sales grew 18.7% with 18,566 deliveries.

Sales in Class 7 jumped 14.7% with large volume gains from Ford (+89.5%), Hino (+102.7%) and International (+25.5%). Kenworth was the only truck maker in the group to underperform, dropping 15.9% to 388 deliveries. Sister brand Peterbilt’s 30.6% boost left PACCAR with an 8.4% improvement.

Class 6 was able to pull off a 12.6% gain thanks to International’s 84.6% hike to 1,223 deliveries. That offset Ford’s 18.7% downfall, which resulted in a market-share drop of 10.3 percentage points.

Ford (+29.3%) and FCA (+2.7%), together achieving 85.1% market share, led Class 5 to a 21.6% rise in sales to 6,581 deliveries. Daimler saw great improvement, up 194.5% on 371 units.

Class 4 sales continued to bloom, marking the eighth consecutive October record, a string beginning with only 630 deliveries in 2010, up to 1,451 (+50.3%) last month. Isuzu’s domestic line grew 1.6% and imports, 2.2%, good for a combined 51.8% stake of the segment. The No.2 spot was filled by Ford, soaring 141.8% with 358 units. With October also marking eight consecutive months of year-over-year gains for Class 4, year-to-date sales totaled 14,946, up 32.2% from like-2016’s 11,304.

Class 8 inventory rose last month to 42,091 units, only 2,634 ahead of last year’s 39,457. October’s days’ supply was 59, down from 75 in like-2016. Medium-duty truck makers ended the month with 61,456 units in inventory, an 83-day supply. That compares with 57,664 and 92 days in like-2016.

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[kscarbel2]

F-650 (Class 6) sales fell 19 percent. What's the deal there Bob? With minimal F-750 (Class 7) sales, Ford depends on Class 6 to justify the F-650/750 business case.

[fxfymn]

It makes sense that Mack's sales fell since they were introducing a new model and I'm sure buyers were waiting to see it before placing orders.

[kscarbel2]

I continue to hear from the distributors that Mack is priced substantially higher than equivalently spec'd competition.

And, Volvo will always push the one core brand, Volvo, over the other brands. Mack is expendable.....Volvo isn't.

[Lmackattack]

Hear the same think here as well as people that have been shopping for a new truck. Mack is always more $$$, has less options and not offering the potential owner the Engine HP wanted. This is mainly in heavy haul or construction.