The growth of the medium- and heavy-duty truck sector in Canada cooled in June, with sales up just 1.5%, a sharp drop from the double-digit percentage increases seen this year, including May’s 30.1% gain.
Barring Class 7’s 35.0% jump, far and away the month’s biggest, modest increases were registered in Classes 5 and 6, while Class 4 and Class 8 deliveries dipped slightly.
Class 8 sales slipped 2.2% as International and Freightliner both lost volume compared with year-ago, down 7.4% and 22.9%, respectively.
The Volvo Truck brand’s 72.4% surge was the largest of all gaining manufacturers in Class 8 last month.
Credit for the 35.0% Class 7 improvement can be spread evenly among International, PACCAR and Daimler, all of which posted increases. Ford had the largest percentage gain on small volume.
Class 6’s 5.3% rise solely was due to Hino’s 97.9% spike, as all other manufacturers in the group saw sales fall compared with like-2011. Volume-leader International sold one more unit than year-ago but, when adjusted for selling days in the month, its deliveries fell 2.8%.
Hino’s 77.7% surge made it the leading gainer in Class 5, which rose 5.1% in June. International followed Hino with a 51.7% increase, while Daimler’s sales tumbled nearly 30%.
Class 4 fell 3.1% from year-ago. While Hino saw a hefty percentage increase, its volume was low and not enough to offset the 10.4% drop at Ford, last month’s volume leader.
Through June, sales of big trucks in Canada were up 31.8% ahead of year-ago, to 22,820 units.
