July offered some respite for big truck producers, as U.S. sales of medium- and heavy-duty models combined fell just 4.6%, the first month of single-digit decline since April.
The month's performance was led by strong Class 8 sales, which rose 21% from year-ago on a daily rate basis (25 days this year vs. 24 in 2001) to 14,095 units. Sterling was the only brand — down 3.0% — to suffer a falloff, though parent Freightliner Corp. saw sales rise 5.5% overall. Biggest gainers were Navistar International Transportation Corp., up 40.5%, and Paccar Inc. The surge in sales likely is related to customers wanting to beat new emissions regulations that kick in Oct. 1.
Medium-duty sales fell 21.8% for the month on a volume of 13,479 units. All four weight classes posted declines, with Class 4 the largest drop, at 33.4% and volume-leader Class 7 down 28.4%.
To date, Class 8 sales trail year-ago's pace by 5.2%, while medium-duty sales are off 20%.
| JULY | JANUARY-JULY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month Units | Units | |||||
| 2002 | 2001 | DSR % Chg | 2002 | 2001 | Vol. %Chg | |
| Class 1 | 557,719 | 487,313 | 9.9% | 3,551,301 | 3,516,718 | 1.0 |
| Class 2 | 219,956 | 185,755 | 13.7 | 1,473,767 | 1,391,557 | 5.9 |
| Class 3 | 6,263 | 7,018 | -14.3 | 44,975 | 53,906 | -16.6 |
| Class 4 | 2,658 | 3,830 | -33.4 | 23,340 | 34,099 | -31.6 |
| Class 5 | 1,939 | 2,028 | -8.2 | 14,155 | 14,934 | -5.2 |
| Class 6 | 3,433 | 3,385 | -2.6 | 23,354 | 25,113 | -7.0 |
| Class 7 | 5,449 | 7,310 | -28.4 | 44,827 | 57,880 | -22.6 |
| Class 8 | 14,095 | 11,182 | 21.0 | 80,825 | 85,266 | -5.2 |
| Total Trucks | 811,512 | 707,821 | 10.1 | 5,256,544 | 5,179,473 | 1.5 |
| Source: Ward's AutoInfoBank | ||||||
