Canada Big Trucks Slip in August

Canada’s big-truck sales slipped in August, with three of the five weight classes recording losses. Combined medium- and heavy-duty deliveries were down a slight 0.1% on a daily basis, WardsAuto data shows.

Class 8 sales were up a meager 2.0% as most manufacturers suffered declines. Falloffs at both Kenworth and Peterbilt sank PACCAR sales 14.3% below year-ago. International posted the biggest jump among Class 8 marques, up 95.9% and share leader Freightliner managed a 7.9% increase.

In the medium-duty segment, sales dipped 4.4% to 919 units from 1,000 in the same period year-ago. A double-digit gain in Class 7 was not enough to offset losses in Classes 4 through 6.

In Class 7, an 87.8% surge in International deliveries and a 64.4% gain by Hino drove the segment to a 27.2% gain. PACCAR sales dipped 0.5% with its Kenworth brand, the only decliner, falling 22% on 42 units.

Sales of Class 6 trucks fared the worst among all segments, as deliveries plunged 31.9% to only 72 units from 110 a year-ago. International dragged the segment down, falling 58.4% and Ford sold only 2 units in the month, a 79.2% drop from year-ago. Hino provided the lone bright spot, up 34.8% on sales of 35 units from 27 in August 2014.

Losses among most brands brought Class 5 deliveries down 14.4% vs. year-ago. No.1-seller Ford’s 32.1% decline was the biggest factor in the group’s slump, though low-volume seller Mitsubishi Fuso posted the largest percentage decline. FCA inched up 1.8% but gained over five percentage points of market share due to the poor performance of the segment’s major players.

Ford also was the cause of Class 4’s 11.8% drop, with sales sliding 21.2% to 72 units.

Isuzu’s domestically built trucks posted the biggest increase in Class 4, up 90.7%, but on just 11 units sold.

Year-to-date, Canadian medium- and heavy-duty truck volume was up 6.1% through August from like-2014.

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