Commercial Motor Vehicle Consulting (CMVC) reported Tuesday its Parts Aftermarket Sales Leading Indicator (PLI) declined 0.9% in January from December, continuing the trend that begin early last year.
CMVC says the indicator signals lower parts aftermarket sales in the coming months are possible, excluding changes in parts prices.
“The rationalization of capacity by fleets is line haul applications is more than offsetting sluggish-to-moderate growth in parts aftermarket sales to fleets in vocational, local and regional applications resulting in a decline in total Class 6-8 parts aftermarket sales,” says Chris Brady, CMVC president. “Trucks in line haul applications make up a large share of the Class 8 truck population and trucks in line haul applications operate at high utilization rates.”
Brady also notes the “rationalization of capacity” by fleets in line haul applications is reducing the number of trucks being operated and the process of rationalizing capacity is causing those same line haul fleets to operate newer more modern fleets as they place older trucks with more depreciation on the used truck market.
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“Increasing supplies of idled trucks on the used truck market and trucks staying on the used market for an extended period of time due to the soft freight environment further weigh on parts aftermarket sales.”
