In The News

Truck sales drop 0.3%; down for 2nd month in a row

Sales of Class 8 tractors in the United States dropped for the second consecutive month, dropping 0.3 percent compared with July.

August sales totaled 15,288 compared with 15,340 in July.

More consequential, however, is the fact that sales are down 11.9 percent compared with the first eight months of 2012 as the industry heads toward a 2013 total of somewhere around 180,000.

Only a prosperous December, such as what has occurred, could save the 2013 sales figure from falling below last year’s total of 194,715.

As is usually the case, the Freightliner nameplate led sales, more than doubling the nearest OEM, Kenworth, which recorded sales of 2,314.

Kenworth and Volvo were the only OEMs to record a gain in August.

Volvo was up 15.3 percent with sales of 1,757, and Kenworth’s sales marked an 11.6 percent increase.

Other August sales included International at 2,186, Peterbilt at 1,934, Mack at 1,524 and Western Star at 226.

Freightliner continues to be the market share leader in 2013 at 37.8 percent with International, Kenworth and Peterbilt all three bunched in the 13-14 percent range.

The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected].

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