U.S. Class 8 Sales Up 25.4%

U.S. big trucks had another great month following October’s 27.0% jump, up 18.8% in November with 35,332 deliveries, their best November since 2006 when sales totaled 41,689.

Sales in Class 8 spiked 25.4% to 17,488 units compared with 13,941 in like-2016. Large gains were seen across the board, starting with a 53.7% jump in sales by Kenworth, 44.8% by Peterbilt, and 31.0% by International. Western Star fell 14.4%, but Freightliner’s 18.4% gain with large volume kept Daimler ahead 16.2%. Similarly, Volvo dipped 5.6% but sister brand Mack thrived with a 23.4% boost leaving Volvo Truck up 6.9%.

U.S. medium-duty trucks rose 12.9% with gains in all classes, to 17,844 deliveries compared with 15,811 year-ago. Year-to-date sales totaled 201,611, 7.5% ahead of year-ago’s 187,598.

Class 7 sales grew 24.1% with double-digit gains by nearly all truck makers in the segment. Freightliner held the No.1 spot with a 22.2% boost in sales and 53.5% market share. PACCAR’s Kenworth and Peterbilt posted gains of 32.4% and 55.6%, respectively.

Class 6 rose 14.5% on mixed results from Freightliner, up 112.6% to 2,483 units, and Ford, down 40.0% to 1,236. Hino grew 11.0%, and International fell 3.3%.

The Class 5 segment totaled 6,035, a 1.6% gain. Domestics rose 2.4% from year-ago, but the import line fell 5.5%. Mitsubishi rose 400.0%, the largest gain in the group. On the other hand, International dropped 96.0%, from 25 units last November to only one this past month.

Class 4 continued its year-over-year gains with November’s 24.1% growth. Triple-digit gains were seen by Daimler (+366.7%), Ford (+124.8%), GM domestics (+435.3%) and imports (+107.7%). With Class 4 truck sales booming, deliveries through November totaled 16,362, a remarkable 31.5% gap compared with year-ago’s 12,445.

Year-to-date sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the U.S. ended November 1.9% above last year at 371,508.

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