In The News

Class 8 slide continues in August, down 33.3% for year

Heavy duty trucks sales in August fell almost 5 percent  compared to the month before, with the year-over-year and year-to-date comparisons each continuing to lag by a third — and 2008 had been the worst year for big trucks in a long time.

According to figures provided to The Trucker by Ward’s Automotive, August Class 8 sales totaled 7,151 trucks in the United States, falling 4.7 percent from July’s 7,503 trucks. Only June (8,006) and March (8,222 trucks) have topped the 8,000 unit mark.

The August number is 33.3 percent lower than August a year ago (10,722 trucks).

Truck sales in August during the industry run-up in 2005 and 2006 averaged 23,240 units.

For the first eight months of 2009, 58,111 Class 8 trucks have been sold in the U.S. (down 33.3 percent from last year), the worst showing on the Ward’s books dating to 1985. In 1991, the previous low for the period, 63,836 trucks were sold in the same period. By comparison, in the 2006 record year, 186,439 trucks were sold through July— meaning a decline this year of 68.8 percent from the peak.

Based on maintaining the current one-third rate of decline, projected sales are just under 90,000 units for 2009, versus 133,473 in 2008. In 2006, 284,008 big trucks were sold in the U.S.

In a brand-by-brand look at the most recent figures, Daimler Trucks North America’s Freightliner line took the top spot for the month, registering a 10.8 percent improvement from the month before, on 1,870 trucks sold. Still, Freightliner slipped 40.4 percent from the same month last year — but none of the Class 8 nameplates showed improvement over 2008. Navistar’s International brand was a close second, selling 1,855 trucks in August, a 14 percent decline from July and down 26.4 percent from 2008.

PACCAR nameplates Peterbilt and Kenworth sold 1,255 trucks (up 21.6 percent from July) and 918 trucks (-11.6 percent), respectively. August was, however, Peterbilt’s best month this year.

The Volvo Group’s Mack brand was down 28.7 percent from the previous month on 535 trucks sold in August. VTNA’s Volvo brand was down 1 percent for the month compared to July, with 435 trucks sold.

Month-to-month numbers, it should be noted, can vary greatly — especially between quarters or from year’s end — depending on an OEM’s sales incentives and reporting procedures.

The market share pie chart through July shows International holding on to its  lead, with a 29 percent slice on 16,845 trucks sold, edging Freightliner (26.3 percent, 15,30` trucks). Peterbilt’s share is 12.8 percent (7,421 trucks) and Kenworth holds 11.6 percent (6,747 trucks) of the Class 8 market. Mack has recorded 4,398 sales so far in 2009, and Volvo 4,365.

Compared to the first 8 months last year, International’s market share has improved 582 basis points, while Freightliner has improved its position by 88 basis points. So far in 2009 Volvo has seen its share fall from 10.1 percent to 7.5 percent.

Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at [email protected] .

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