Paccar says pre-buy boosted 1Q income

Bellevue, WA-based Paccar said net income this quarter jumped to $47.2 million on sales of $1.5 billion, compared with net income of $44.3 million in the first quarter of 2001.

Chairman & CEO Mark C. Pigott said industry truck orders in North America have increased in the last couple of months because of pre-buying efforts.

"It appears that most of the increase in orders is due to pull-forward purchases, as fleets try to minimize the negative impact of more costly engines being introduced on October 1," he said. "While this will likely have a favorable effect on the second and third quarters, the fourth quarter of 2002 could be unfavorably impacted as a result of the accelerated buying."

Pigott added that Paccar's Kenworth and Peterbilt operations are increasing production rates at their plants in North America in response to the higher demand. Those moves are in direct contrast to International Truck & Engine Corp.'s pre-buy strategy, which is to cap truck production rates in order to prevent a dramatic fall-off in the fourth quarter.