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October Class 8 truck sales up 9.7%, bouyed by top-seller Freightliner

Buoyed by Freightliner’s monthly record sale of 8,153 tractors, Class 8 truck sales jumped 9.7 percent in October as compared with September, according to data compiled by WardsAuto.

The previous high-sales month for Freightliner was 7,529 recorded in March 2005.

Total October sales of 22,032 bested September sales of 20,078, marking it the third straight month sales have increased.

With two months to go, November and December sales will certainly push the 2014 total well past the 2013 total of 184,784, and the 2012 total sales of 194,715. Sales of 210,000-plus are certainly not beyond reach, given that December is always a high sales month.

That would mark 2014 as the best year for Class 8 sales since the pre-recession total of 284,008 in 2006.

The Western Star name plate had the largest month-over-month increase with sales of 349 tractors in October compared with 250 sales in September. The International brand had the second largest month-over-month increase in October, selling 3,514 tractors compared with 2,892 in September.

Freightliner’s year-to-date sales gives the Daimler Trucks North America brand a 35.8 market share. International at 15 percent has the second largest market share at 15 percent.

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