Though truck orders steadily fell during the first quarter, commercial truck sales actually rose during the same period thanks to full build slots and a growing delivery rate, NADA Senior Economist Patrick Manzi wrote in the American Truck Dealers (ATD) Truck Beat blog last week.
Manzi says overall commercial vehicle sales continued were up 12.7 percent through March, with medium-duty sales up 2.0 percent year-over-year and heavy-duty trucks up 24.5 percent during the same period.
“Although truck orders have slowed in recent months from high levels last year, long order backlogs should lead to robust sales through 2019,” writes Manzi. “As the year progresses, we expect tight supplies of new Class 8 trucks to prop up values and keep demand steady for used trucks.”
Manzi also notes the current state of the economy is good, with a strong labor market, accelerating wage growth and high consumer confidence keeping consumers spending money this year. “We expect sales of commercial vehicles to come in at or slightly above their 2018 levels,” he says.
In the Class 8 market, ATD data shows Freightliner earning 40.7 percent marketshare during the first quarter, followed by International (14.9) and Peterbilt (14.2). ATD data also shows Ford holding a slight edge over Freightliner in the Class 4-7 market at 31.2 percent to 25.8 percent. International is third in the Class 4-7 market at 18.3 percent.
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