About Heavy Duty Trucks

New heavy-duty truck sales in April were up 15 percent from March,  marking the third consecutive month of improvement since the dismal January report kicked off 2008.

According to figures provided to The Trucker by Ward’s Automotive, April Class 8 sales totaled 11,983 trucks in the United States, compared to 10,419 in March. The April surge matches positive swings registered in October and December last year, which also came in close to the 12,000 unit mark (11,769 and 12,034, respectively), and the month’s is third highest total since April last year.

In a year-to-year comparison, reported sales were 13,373 in April 2007, making for a decline this year of 10.4 percent versus the same period — far and away the best year-over-year comparison since the same time last year. The comparison, however, was not particularly challenging, as the year-ago total itself represented a 45 percent decline, and after which the sales routinely were down more than half from the record numbers posted in 2006. Likewise, the April 2008 figure marked the slowest April since 2002, about the midpoint in the previous industry downturn.

More severe than generally anticipated, the emissions mandate-driven slump of ’07 lingers, driven now by slow freight and excess capacity, high fuel costs, and, ultimately, by the bottom line struggle for profit by carriers, industry analysts say.

And while manufacturers and analysts agree substantial equipment changes required by 2010 standards should mean sales will return to peak levels late this year through 2009, the timing is likely to be set by the economy rather than by equipment replacement cycles.

In a closer look at the most recent Ward’s data, Daimler Trucks North America’s Freightliner brand regained the top spot in April on the sale of 3,177 units, as Navistar’s International slipped to second place with 2,573 trucks sold.

With the exception of International (down 2.4 percent), the Class 8 field all showed order book gains compared to March. Daimler’s Western Star (115 units) and Sterling (801 units) and Freightliner were up 25.2 percent, 24.6 percent, and 20.2 percent, respectively.

Among the other OEMs, compared to March, were PACCAR brands Kenworth (1,613 trucks, up 20.5 percent) and Peterbilt (1,614 trucks, up 12 percent); and Volvo Truck North America brands Mack (1,200 trucks, up 18.2 percent) and Volvo (884 trucks, up 4.8 percent).

Month-to-month numbers, it should be noted, can vary greatly — especially between quarters or from year’s end — depending on an OEM’s sales incentives and reporting procedures.

Four months into 2008, Freightliner’s year-to-date market share is 25.1 percent (10,605 units sold), and International’s is 23.5 percent (9,909 units). The sales pie also shows Peterbilt with a 12.6 percent slice (5,300 units), followed closely by Kenworth (12.5 percent, 5,289 units) and Volvo (11.1 percent, 4,689 units).

A year ago, Freightliner’s market share was 30.1 percent, meaning a shrinkage of 585 basis points in its wedge. International is the big gainer, improving 575 basis points, while Peterbilt and Kenworth each have gained about 100 basis points.