In this week’s roundup, we cover how DTNA overshadowed its own positive Q2 earnings release with its plans to build the largest truck plant in North America, then piggybacked on that news by announcing Detroit will commit fully to EPA 2027 engine regulations in January. We also touched on big changes to the truck build backlog due to rising demand, positive pricing and turn data in the work truck market; how shop volumes jumped dramatically in Q1 but parts and service pricing didn’t keep up. Also the new Paccar PDC, updates on our award programs and more.
Lucas: Hello, everyone. Lucas here for today’s TPS weekly news roundup. Today I’m going to begin with Daimler. It’s been an incredibly busy last 10 days for the global truck maker.
They announced late last week they are going to build the biggest truck plant in the United States by 2029. They didn’t say where, that information will come later this year, but Daimler announcing after news broke that they’re closing their Portland facility. They’re not closing any more facilities, they’re adding a new one. That’s exciting. Daimler also announcing they are upgrading and updating their 2026 and 2027 sales forecasts higher based on increased demand they’re seeing in a stronger freight environment. So, that’s a good sign.
On that topic, Daimler also announcing that beginning in January 2027, they will be moving forward with all EPA-compliant engines. You may remember a couple weeks ago the EPA announced some changes to the NOx regulation rule — not to the actual emissions part of the role — but to the engine compliance, saying that manufacturers would be allowed to move forward with non-compliant engines in 2027 as they continue to develop their compliant versions.
Daimler saying it’s not going to do that. They’re not going to pay the penalties that would come with that. They’re moving forward with 2027 technology. They have it ready to go. And beginning in January, that’s what you're getting new trucks.
In the truck demand sector, ACT Research also announcing this week the Class 8 backlog has effectively doubled year over year, and there’s an expectation that it could continue to rise in September and October once new order boards open. ACT saying that carriers continue to want to buy equipment and manufacturers are doing all they can to keep up, but demand is rising at such a rate that the backlog is just ballooning.
In the parts and service sector, TMC and Decisiv reporting the results of their Q1 parts and labor benchmark survey this week. TMC and Decisiv reporting parts prices were down 4.6% in Q1. Labor prices were down 0.6%, but service volumes were up 5.5%. For our parts and service audience, that’s obviously some mixed news. We’d like to see parts and labor prices better, but seeing service volumes up is definitely a good sign and it speaks to what we’ve seen across the market — that freight is moving at a higher level and demand is increasing.
Some other quick notes before I shut down today. Work Truck Solutions had a report on new and used equipment sales in the work truck space. Work Truck Solutions announcing that fleets in that market are keeping their equipment longer now than they have historically. They’ve seen that throughout the first half of the year. Fleets are holding onto equipment longer, but when they’re making the decision that it’s time for them to sell, they’re getting good [used equipment] pricing and their days to turn rates are low. Demand is there. You can hold onto equipment a little, couple months longer, maybe even a year longer than you typically would and as long as the equipment is in good working order and in good condition, it seems to be selling pretty well. So, that’s exciting.
Couple other quick hits. Paccar opened a new PDC in Calgary, Alberta. That’s big news for the Western Canada market. And then beginning next week, we’ll be profiling our Distributor of the Year finalists. We’ll start with the questionnaires on those businesses. We will have finalist profiles for our Successful Dealer and Trailblazer Award finalists in probably the latter half of August or early September. Keep up with that.
As always, like and subscribe to these videos so you can keep up with them. Be sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter; you’re checking out our website. Have a great rest of your week. Have a great weekend, and we will see you next week. Thanks everyone. Bye.
