Commercial Motor Vehicle Consulting (CMVC) announced Tuesday its Parts Aftermarket Sales Leading Indicator (PLI) fell for the ninth consecutive month in August.
The reading was down 0.8% from July, which CMVC President Chris Brady says signals "the growth rate of parts aftermarket sales will be below trend in the coming months, and trend is defined as the long term growth rate of the commercial vehicle population."
Brady says strong truck sales over the past year has resulted in new and used truck operators returning the average age of their fleets back to a norm, which would support growth of parts aftermarket sales at trend rates, but "the downward trend in fleet capacity utilization indicates the rate at which the truck population is depreciating is slowing to levels dampening parts aftermarket sales below trend."
Brady adds, "For instance, in the for-hire trucking industry, the shift in freight volumes by carriers’ brokerage operations to company-owned tractors to keep truck utilization high has depressed third-party carriers’ truck utilization, slowing the rate at which trucks depreciate to an extent that it is dampening parts aftermarket sales."
