U.S. Heavy Trucks Down, Medium Trucks Up in August

Sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks totaled 33,505 units in August, 14.2% below year ago.

Class 8 trucks took the hardest hit, falling 26.1% to 16,262 deliveries.

All brands showed double-digit declines except small-volume Western Star, which slipped just 4.9%. PACCAR’s Kenworth and Peterbilt posted year-over-year drops of 30.1% and 25.6%, respectively. Sales of Volvo trucks plummeted 32.2%, and its sister brand, Mack, lost 26.8%. Year-to-date, this weight class came in 20.2% behind like-2015.

Following two months of poor results, medium-duty trucks surpassed year-ago by 1.0% in August, boosted by sales in Classes 6 and 7.

Class 7 outsold prior-year by 7.8% with 6,502 units. There were mixed results in the group. Class leader Freightliner lifted the group with a 30.5% gain. Kenworth dropped 22.6% and Peterbilt declined 10.0%. International posted a smaller fall, down just 1.7%.

Class 6 was the best-performing group, shooting up 10.3% from last year on 4,518 units. A 68.7% improvement by Ford increased its share to 32.6% from 21.3% in same-month 2015. Freightliner remained the class leader with a 33.9% stake, however, even with a 10.5% drop in sales. International was the second positive force in the group, with a 22.1% rise in sales.

Class 5 deliveries totaled 5,108 units, down 10.6%. Ford’s sales slipped 5.5% and FCA declined 1.3%. Daimler took a massive hit, plummeting 81.3% overall, as Freightliner dropped 80.3% and Mitsubishi Fuso declined 89.8%. International sold just one unit in the group, a 99.0% decrease from year-ago. The only positive outcome came from Isuzu, which increased sales 19.0%.

Class 4 trucks came in 9.2% below prior-year with 1,115 orders in August. Isuzu’s domestic lineup gained 16.5%, while imports lost 23.7%. Ford was down 12.0%. Hino’s sales grew 144.0% from 25 to 61 units.

Through the first eight months of this year, medium- and heavy-duty truck sales were 7.9% below same-period 2015.

The industry closed August with 43,107 Class 8 trucks in stock, equal to a 69-day supply. That compares with 61 days and 51,813 units year-ago.

Medium-duty inventories rose to an 84-day supply on 55,645 units, higher than the 79 days and 52,061 vehicles at the end of August 2015. Stocks of Class 4 and 5 trucks remained especially high, at 128 and 119 days’ supply, respectively.

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