In The News

Medium Truck Sales Improve

Retail sales of medium-duty (Classes 3-7) trucks increased in December compared with the same month in 2008, the first month-to-month gain in more than a year.

Truck makers reported selling 24,529 medium-duty units in December, 7.7% more than reported in December 2008, according to data from Wardsauto.com.

That slight improvement was not enough to significantly affect the year-over-year results, however. Medium-duty truck sales for 2009 were 27.7% lower than in 2008.

Five manufacturers reported selling more trucks in December 2009 than the same month in 2008, with Dodge leading the way with sales of 5,277 units, a 73% gain. All of that gain came in Class 3 as the company benefited from interest in the redesigned Ram heavy-duty pickup truck.

Other manufacturers showing month-to-month gains included Kenworth Trucks (41%), Freightliner (12%), Peterbilt (7%) and International (7%).

lmtruck.com