Class 8 truck sales tick up in May

Class 8 truck sales managed to rack up another month in the positive column. Total U.S. retail figures for May, as compiled by WardsAuto, show 17,990 heavy-duty units were sold--  214 more than in April-- to notch a 1.2% gain over the month before.

Total retail sales for Class 3 to 8 trucks in May were off by less than one percent, with 344 fewer units sold than in April.

May’s biggest news was the 13% falloff in Class 4 to 7 sales. That drop was driven by declines of 1,327 and 1,187 units in Class 5 and Class 6, respectively.

On the other hand, Class 3 sales jumped by 1,744 units in May, pushing the category up 8.2% above April’s showing.

Class 4 gained in May, too, rising by 221 units to score a whopping 14.8% hike.

Last month, a WardsAuto.com post had advised that truck sales “continued their upward trend in April, posting the eighth consecutive monthly year-over-year increase.” Paul Zajac, WardsAuto’s manager of industry data, noted then that April’s sales were the highest for that calendar month since 2006.