U.S. Medium- and Heavy-Duty Truck Sales Plunge

U.S. big-truck sales totaled 29,754 units in November, 22.4% below like-2015’s 35,279.

Class 8 sales were off 33.2% from year-ago on 13,943 deliveries. PACCAR’s Kenworth plummeted 32.3% from prior-year, while Peterbilt was the only one up with a 2.2% increase on 2,062 units. In this class, Freightliner posted the weakest results, dropping 44.7% from prior-year. Mack (-31.5%) and Volvo (-39.1%) also didn’t do well. Year-to-date, Class 8 sales are down 22.4% from like-2015.

Overall, medium-duty sales fell 9.5% with monthly volume at 15,811. For January-November, sales are running 4.1% above prior-year.

Class 7 sales hit 4,150 deliveries, 17.3% below year-ago. Current year-to-date sales are still up 2.6% on 55,107 units. Hino was the only truck maker to post an increase, up 1.7% from like-2015. Large losses were seen by Ford (-30.7%), Kenworth (-34.6%) and International (-22.5%).

Class 6 sales also saw a decline in November, down 14.1% on 4,579 units. Group leader Ford rose 27.4%. Kenworth increased 15.9%, while its sister brand, Peterbilt, slipped 4.5%. Freightliner posted the highest loss within the group, dropping 47.3%.

Class 5 was the only medium-duty segment to see a gain, up just 0.5% to 5,941 orders. Class 5 domestic volume increased 2.4% while imports fell 13.3%. Freightliner (61.6%), FCA (37.8%) and Hino (16.3%) saw big gains. International and Isuzu posted large declines of 67.6% and 20.7%, respectively. Mitsubishi Fuso underperformed the most, down 84.7%, but on small volume.

Class 4 sales totaled 1,141 units, down 5.3%. Mitsubishi Fuso had the hardest hit in this segment as well, down 76.5% from prior-year. Isuzu’s domestic line rose 38.8%, but the import line plunged 20.6%. Hino’s import lineup was up 14.4%. Ford posted a large decline of 40.7%.

Through November, combined sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the U.S. sit 10.7% below last year at 364,633.

Class 8 ended November with a 65 days’ supply, down from 68 year-ago. A total of 36,359 units were in stock at the end of the month, down from 57,041 year-ago.

Medium-duty days’ supply increased to 90 from only 71 last November. Total units in inventory rose to 56,950 from 49,708.

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