Canada Big Trucks Fall in October

After a recovery in September, Canadian medium- and heavy-duty truck sales fell 11.8% in October as deliveries totaled 3,736 units compared with 4,079 from prior-year, WardsAuto data shows. All segments except for Class 4 were down from year-ago.

Sales in Class 8 slipped 12.9% to 2,638 units. International (+10.6%) and Mack (+36.2%) were the only brands to post gains. Top-seller Freightliner posted a small downtick, 0.4%, with 877 units. PACCAR’s Kenworth and Peterbilt suffered the worst performance, dropping 42.5% and 40.4%, respectively. Despite the sharp drop in October, heavy truck sales were up 4.6% year-to-date.

Medium-duty deliveries reached 1,098 units, 9.1% below 1,163 in like-2014. Through October, sales in the weight group were 7.0% above year-ago.

Class 7 deliveries were down 4.7% on volume of 365 units. Gains by the class-leading brand International (+18.1) were not enough to offset double-digit losses reported by Kenworth (-36.4%), Peterbilt (-43.1%) and low-volume Ford (-19.8%).

In Class 6, sales dove 30.6% to 111 units. International plummeted 70.1%, losing its top spot with a 28.8% share of October deliveries. Freightliner sales rose 98.3%, nearly tripling its Class 6 share from 11.0% in 2014 to 31.5% this year. Hino doubled its share from 18.2% to 36.0%, with a 37.6% gain in sales to 40 units.

Class 5 ended October down 11.4% on sales of 484 trucks. Isuzu recorded 47.3% growth, while top-seller Ford increased sales 7.7%. FCA had sales fall 5.1% but gained market share as Hino (-33.2%), International (-76.8%) and Mitsubishi Fuso (-67.9%) posted much sharper declines.

Class 4 enjoyed a 16.6% jump in sales to 138. Ford increased its share of the segment with a 42.2% sales gain, good for a 67.4% stake. Isuzu’s domestic models doubled in volume, but its imports were down 32.0%. Mitsubishi Fuso was only other brand to fall, with a 55.6% drop to a small volume of six units.

Through October, Canada big-truck sales were running 5.3% ahead of like-2014, totaling 37,323 units.

[email protected]