Canada Big Trucks Fall 4.2% in October

Big-truck sales in Canada dipped 4.2% in October, posting their 12th consecutive year-over-year decline. Gains in classes 4 and 7 were not enough to offset losses in other segments.

Class 8 sales for October decreased 2.9% over like-2012. International was the only company to post a gain, up 22.9%. Class leader Freightliner suffered a 13.7% loss while Mack was down 10.3% from last year’s level. Total Class 8 sales were down 10.1% for the year with only low- volume manufacturer Western Star up 2.3%.

Class 7 sales rose 6.9%, largely due to Peterbilt (+69.0%) and International (+27.1%). Ford was up 380.8% albeit on low-volume sales of only 10 units. All other manufacturers posted declines with Freightliner down 33.7%. Class 7 year-to-date deliveries were down 9.0% against the same period year-ago.

Class 6 suffered the largest declines among all segments. A 41.7% drop in volume-leader International’s deliveries, along with a larger 58.4% drop by Hino, resulted in a total backslide for the class of 31.2%. Year-to-date Class 6 deliveries were down 25.1% from year-ago.

International and Hino sales were the only positive news for Class 5 with deliveries up 66.7% and 17.0%, respectively. All other manufacturers experienced losses including No.1 seller Ford, down 13.3%.

Class 4 was the only other group to post a year-over-year increase, up 23.2%. A Ford sales gain of 35.9% on much larger volume was more than enough to offset an Isuzu loss of 69.6%.

Year-to-date, Canadian medium- and heavy-duty truck volume was down 9.2% to 34,055 units, from like-2012’s 37,523.

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