U.S. Heavy-Duty Trucks Continue to See Year-Over-Year Losses

Despite large gains in Classes 5 and 7, U.S. medium- and heavy-duty truck sales fall in May, dropping 2.3% to 34,550 units. Year-to-date sales continued to slip, declining 10.3% to 155,418 from like-2016’s 173,212, primarily due to large monthly losses in Class 8 sales.

Sales in Class 8 fell 9.9% to 16,248 units. Volvo and Mack were the primary culprits, with freefalls of 26.9% and 18.0%, respectively. Volume-leader Freightliner tallied 6,900 sales, compared with prior-year’s 7,012, while Western Star totaled 405 compared with 463 in like-2016. International also saw a decrease, dropping 15.3%. Peterbilt brought the only gain in the group, a meager 0.4% from 2,347 to 2,454 units. The small gain couldn’t offset the large 10.4% loss from Kenworth, bringing PACCAR down 5.3%.

With another month of losses by nearly all manufacturers, Class 8 year-to-date sales were lagging 21.9% behind year-ago with 67,021 deliveries.

Medium-duty truck sales saw a 5.6% increase in May despite the double-digit loss in Class 6. Through May, Classes 4-7 were tracking 1.1% ahead of like-2016.

Class 7 sales rose 5.8% in May with help from International’s 24.1% boost to 1,240 units. Group leader Freightliner increased 2.4% but dropped to 50.6% market share from 52.4% in like-2016. Ford sales totaled 167 units, down 6.8% from 2016’s 172. Hino grew 23.3% to 149 units. Small demand for Kenworth (-17.1%) and Peterbilt (+8.5%) resulted in a 4.6% decline by PACCAR to 896 deliveries.

With a large 39.4% loss by Ford, Class 6 was the only medium-duty group to see a decline in May. Ford lost 10 percentage-points in market share, slipping to 1,101 deliveries from year-ago’s 1,743. Freightliner swooped in and increased its market share 10 percentage points with a 17.0% increase in sales. International dipped 19.0% on high volume. Peterbilt soared 495.2% to 31 units, and Kenworth grew 26.0% to 210.

With increases by both domestics and imports, Class 5 managed an 18.5% increase over like-2016. International performed the worst in the group, plummeting 85.2% to 12 units. Group leader Ford gained 21.9% in sales and increased to 61.3% market share. Daimler’s Freightliner (+27.1%) and Mitsubishi Fuso (+37.1%) saw large gains. FCA grew to 1,543 deliveries, up 15.5% from 1,282.

In a similar situation, Class 4 sales were up 26.2% with large increases by domestics and imports. Mitsubishi Fuso soared 132.6% on small volume. Isuzu’s domestic line dropped 3.1% on large volume, while imports rose 47.0%. International (-52.0%) and Ford (-12.8%) also underperformed in May.

Class 8 held 347,148 units in stock at the end of May, down from 50,657 year-ago. Days’ supply fell 18 days to 53. Medium-duty stock swelled to 62,040 units, compared with like-2016’s 60,926. Days’ supply fell three days, to 85.

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