Canada Big Trucks Post Strong Month in March

March Class 8 truck sales in Canada rose 3.1% year-over-year to 2,051 deliveries, the first increase since September 2015.

Daimler’s Freightliner brand was the only manufacturer to post a decline, dropping 24.8% and losing 10.7 percentage points in market share. Peterbilt’s sales soared 30.6% while sister brand Kenworth rose 14.4%, resulting in an increase of 3.9 percentage points in market share for PACCAR. Mack and Volvo also had good months, rising 24.8% and 29.7%, respectively. International grew to 272 deliveries, 21.3% higher than like-2016’s 216.

Even though March sales were up, first-quarter deliveries were 8.0% below year-ago, totaling 4,894 units compared to last year’s 5,322.

Medium-duty truck sales rose 2.9% to 1,436 units. First quarter’s 3,386 deliveries were 9.0% above year-ago’s 3,106.

Class 7 sales remained steady at 375 units, a 2.3% increase over same-month 2016. Ford and Freightliner posted double-digit losses of 42.2% and 32.0%, respectively. Volume leader International stayed flat with 160 deliveries and 42.7% market share. Hino saw the most growth with a 38.6% jump in sales.

Despite an 80.7% drop from Ford and a 93.6% hit from Peterbilt, Class 6 sales grew 7.8% on 94 units. Share leader Hino rose 19.0% with 42 deliveries. Freightliner (+32.4%) and International (+92.6%) also posted large gains.

With a 4.0% rise in domestics on high-volume and a 63.3% jump in sales for imports, Class 5 deliveries totaled 779 units, 7.9% above year-ago’s 695. Daimler’s Freightliner (-80.7%) and Mitsubishi Fuso (-35.8%) performed the worst but on small volume. Ford saw a 17.4% jump in sales, resulting in an increase in market share to 53.5%. Hino’s sales were 53.0% higher than prior-year with 178 deliveries.

Class 4 was the worst-performing segment in March, dipping 14.6% below like-2016 with 188 units. Isuzu’s import line dropped 55.9% but domestics rose 57.6%. Volume leader Ford also took a hit, slipping 18.6% to 131 deliveries.

Even with the Class 4 hit, medium- and heavy-duty truck sales were up 3.0% in March, increasing to 3,487 units from last March’s 3,259. Year-to-date sales totaled 8,280 units, 1.8% behind like-2016.

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