In The News

Medium-Duty Sales Decline in June

Sales of medium-duty trucks declined in June, with only Class 7 posting an increase for the month. But overall sales were trending up at the year’s midpoint, WardsAuto.com reported.

Dealers sold 35,617 Classes 3-7 trucks in June, a 4.8% decline from 37,422 a year ago, Wards said. The drop-off was led by Class 6, whose sales were off 21% versus year-ago levels, to 3,667 from 4,682. Class 3 sales declined 5.6%, to 21,182 from 22,438 last June. Combines sales of Classes 4-5 trucks essentially were flat.

The bright spot was Class 7, whose sales jumped 21%, to 4,373 from 3,896 a year ago. Among individual manufacturers in that segment, Navistar Inc.’s International brand saw sales rise 13%, to 1,137 from 1,006 a year ago. Daimler Trucks North America’s Freightliner brand posted an increase of 12.5%, to 2,002 units from 1,779. Paccar Inc.’s Kenworth and Peterbilt nameplates combined for 765 sales, up 11.4% from the 687 trucks sold in the 2013 timeframe.

Year-to-date through June, Classes 3-7 sales rose 1.4%, to 208,313 from 205,454. Class 3 is the only segment in which sales fell off during the period, declining 2.9% to 121,024 from 124,644. Class 3 performed well during most of 2013.

Through the first six months of this year, Classes 4-5 sales rose 9.1%, to 35,994 from 32,897, and Class 6 increased 8.4%, to 27,420 from 25,278 in 2013. Class 7 sales rose 5.4%, to 23,875 from 22,635.

www.truckfleetmgt.com