Work Truck Solutions on Tuesday released its 2018 search data on commercial body types.
The company says this data, which represented more than one million individual searches on its platform, comes from more than 900 dealerships covering 49 states. This is Work Truck Solutions’ sixth consecutive year tracking commercial buyer interest through active searches on their platform.
Service body searches maintained its spot on top of Work Truck Solutions’ searches in 2018, with 187,122 total searches, 17.25 percent of total searches. The No. 2 spot in 2018 went to platform body searches (112,680 searches, 10.39 percent), which was followed by empty cargo van at No. 3 (105,631 searches, 9.74 percent).
Additionally, Work Truck Solutions says search volume for body types across its platform increased over 50 percent year over year, and the 2018 search data reinforces many of the findings of last year’s search data report. For example, in 2017, service bodies were also the most searched-for body type and accounted for a similar 17.27 percent of the total searches, mirroring their popularity in the commercial market.
“The top ten body types tracked in 2017 were similar to 2018 and grew proportionately to the overall increase in searches,” says Kathryn Schifferle, CEO, Work Truck Solutions. “This confirms that overall market demand is stable and reliable. In 2018 however, we saw significant increases in rollbacks (300 percent) and chippers (200 percent) as well as passenger vans for commercial use (270 percent).
“We also added heavy-duty body tracking, including hooklifts, water, sewer and mixer bodies among others. This increases the specific data and analytics we provide dealerships, body manufacturers, distributors, and OEMs that can be used to predict what stock will move faster in which markets, solving one of the major challenges the commercial industry faces.”
Van searches also remained reliably high. In both 2018 and 2017, van searches (including cut-aways, empty cargo vans, and a variety of upfitted vans) accounted for about 35 percent of all searchesWork Truck Solutions expects 2019 to be another big year for vans, and in January introduced VanBuilder — a new solution that helps dealerships capitalize on vans’ popularity and vocational customizability.
