For 2017, Mack posts modest uptick in deliveries, receives surge in orders

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Jon Harris, The Morning Call  /  January 31, 2018

If you look solely at Mack Trucks’ delivery total last year, you see a number that is only 4 percent — or about 800 trucks — higher than the company’s total in 2016, which was its worst statistical year since 2010. In fact, the 19,644 trucks that Mack delivered in 2017 is the company’s second-lowest total in the last seven years.

But consider: 2017 also was a year in which Mack revved up its marketing, rolled out a new highway truck and hauled a heavy payload of orders. So what the company that assembles its heavy-duty trucks in the Lehigh Valley is really banking on is that the road ahead looks even better — should the market continue to cooperate.

Those were some of the main takeaways from a full-year report released Wednesday by Mack’s parent company, the Sweden-based Volvo Group. While the highlight for the Volvo Group was recording its highest-ever sales and operating income results in 2017, the report also detailed a North American truck market in which orders are surging, reflecting high activity in the construction and highway segments. But in his comments, Volvo Group President and CEO Martin Lundstedt pumped the brakes a little, saying the launch of new highway products — the Volvo VNL series and the Mack Anthem — may take time to catch on.

“The North American truck market is picking up,” Lundstedt wrote in the report. “Both Volvo and Mack have benefited from the increased demand. However, both are currently in the transition to new truck generations, which will affect production output and market shares in the short term. The new truck ranges have been well-received by customers and dealers and order intake is good, which should translate into higher market shares when production of the new products is fully ramped-up.”

Mack isn’t waiting around. To meet higher market demand, including strong interest in its new Mack Anthem, the company on Jan. 2 brought on another 400 workers at its Lower Macungie Township assembly plant. The plant, which has assembled its first Anthem models, now employs about 2,400.

While Mack’s 2017 delivery total was modestly better than 2016, the company finished the year strong. Mack delivered 5,112 trucks in the fourth quarter, up 24 percent from the 4,119 pumped out in the year-earlier period.

And, as it was throughout much of 2017, Mack received a surge in orders — a solid barometer of future deliveries — during the fourth quarter, collecting 7,570 orders, up 55 percent from the 4,896 received a year earlier. For all of 2017, Mack received 25,322 orders, a 54 percent jump from 16,484 in 2016.

The news wasn’t all good, however: For 2017, Mack’s market share in North America dropped to 7.3 percent (from 7.8 percent), while Volvo Trucks’ share was 8.3 percent, down from 9.9 percent.

“Mack’s market share slipped as growth in the overall Class 8 truck market was skewed toward the long-haul highway segment,” Mack spokesman Christopher Heffner said. “We’re confident that our new Mack Anthem highway model, which is now in production at Lehigh Valley Operations, will help us make a bigger impact in that segment of the market.”

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Mack Trucks' deliveries

Mack delivered 19,644 vehicles worldwide in 2017. Here's a look at how many vehicles Mack delivered each year dating back to 2001, which is when Volvo's acquisition of Mack became effective.

2017: 19,644

2016: 18,846

2015: 27,411

2014: 25,644

2013: 21,299

2012: 25,077

2011: 20,278

2010: 13,465

2009: 11,101

2008: 16,613

2007: 18,621

2006: 36,838

2005: 36,222

2004: 25,469

2003: 18,991

2002: 23,245

2001: 23,795