Canada Big Trucks Rebound in September

Canada’s big-truck makers rebounded in September, posting a combined Class 4-8 sales rise of 9.6% on the strength of demand in the heavy-duty sector, WardsAuto data shows.

Class 8 sales were up 9.3% on 2,907 units. Daimler accounted for most of the Class 8 gain, with deliveries rising 48.5% to 1,332. Its Freightliner brand enjoyed a 58.0% spike, while sales of its Western Star brand rose 21.1%. Declines at both Kenworth and Peterbilt sank PACCAR sales 21.6% below year-ago. Through the first nine months, Class 8 sales totaled 22,432, up a healthy 6.5% from like-2014’s 21,060.

In the medium-duty segment, sales rose 10.1% to 1,738 units from 1,516 in the same period year-ago. A double-digit gain in Class 7 was enough to offset losses in smaller-volume classes 4 and 6.

In Class 7, a 22.0% rise in volume leader International sales and a 147.6% jump posted by Kenworth drove the segment to a 21.9% gain. Peterbilt sales were halved, falling 48.8% to 24 units.

For the second month in a row, sales of Class 6 trucks fared the worst among all segments. Deliveries plunged 39.7% to only 93 units from 148 a year-ago. All brands suffered losses with International’s 49.9% slide responsible for most of the decline.

Class 5 deliveries were up 11.7% with 547 units sold. Isuzu enjoyed a triple-digit gain of 177.9%. FCA was up a solid 35.3% on the strength of the Ram Cab Chassis model. No.1-seller Ford slipped 2.3% while International recorded the worst performance, down 63.1%.

Class 4’s 6.0% drop was largely due to Ford’s 15.0% slide to 100 units. Hino posted the biggest increase in Class 4, up 316.0% to 13 units, up from only 3 in 2014.

Year-to-date, Canadian medium- and heavy-duty truck volume was up 7.1% through September on sales of 33,587 from like-2014’s 31,353.

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