Canada’s big-truck sales cooled in August, as combined medium- and heavy-duty deliveries were up a slim 0.4% on a daily basis after two months of strong year-over-year gains, WardsAuto data shows.
Class 8 deliveries for August inched up 1.2% on the strength of Daimler Trucks, with brands Freightliner and Western Star up 11.7% and 31.4%, respectively. Kenworth managed to post a 9.4% gain, while Peterbilt plunged 12.0%, dragging parent PACCAR’s overall performance down 0.9%. All other manufacturers in the segment suffered losses as the year through August stood at 18,506 units, up a slight 2.1% from 18,118 in like-2013.
In the medium-duty segment, sales dipped 1.2% to 1,000 units from 1,051 in the same period year-ago. Double-digit gains in Classes 4 and 5 were not enough to offset losses in Classes 6 and 7.
In Class 7, a 55.8% surge in Ford deliveries and a 46.3% gain by Hino were not enough to overcome a 41.6% loss by volume leader International. Overall Class 7 performance sank 6.3% to 278 units from 308 in prior-period.
Sales of Class 6 trucks fared the worst among all segments, as deliveries plunged 38.9% to 110 units from 187 a year-ago. International pulled the segment down, falling 58.5% to 50 from 125 last year. Hino provided the lone bright spot, up 47.6% on sales of 27 units from 19 in August 2013.
Class 5 deliveries improved 10.9% to a unit volume of 487. Ford, with nearly 50% of the market, was up 18.1%. Second-place Chrysler posted a 14.2% gain, while smaller-volume sellers Mitsubishi Fuso and Peterbilt recorded triple-digit increases.
Class 4 enjoyed the best performance among all groups with sales up 29.8%. All manufacturers posted sales increases except for Isuzu domestic trucks, down 43.4%. However, Isuzu import models were up 73.1%. Share leader Ford enjoyed a 40.9% increase in August, good for a 76.0% stake of the Class 4 market.
