Class 8 Truck Sales Begin New Year With 13% Drop
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U.S. Class 8 retail sales started the year on a down slope, losing ground on both a monthly and year-over-year basis, according to data from Wards Intelligence.
January sales decreased 13% to 16,175 units from 18,594 during the prior-year period and slid 28% compared with the 22,383 units moved in December. However, these results are consistent with how sales have been trending for more than a year — Class 8 sales took a 9.9% drop for all of 2024.
“Class 8 sales were a little bit squishy,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said. “I don’t have a good answer for why that is. The kind of working hypothesis is … leading up to the election, business owners and companies tend to sit on their pocketbooks. They want to wait and see what’s going to happen.”
Tam suspects that has driven how sales have been trending as of late. But when it specifically comes to the most recent results, he indicated they weren’t overly surprising given the historical trend of the year ending on a strong note before slowing back down. He also noted the decrease between the two months was not as big as it would normally be.
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Tam said that is a good thing. "But the 13% year-over-year decline drives home that 2024 was a good year, it was probably a top-five year in the marketplace, but it wasn’t a top-three and it certainly wasn’t No. 1. It was kind of playing the cards that we were dealt. I think that the uncertainty that was pre-election, has transitioned to post-election.”
Tam pointed out that a lot is going on that businesses have to pay attention to now. There also is uncertainty that comes with the stream of political and economic developments that could impact their operations. This can result in confusion, which could lead business owners to hold their investments longer than normal.
Freightliner, a brand of , claimed the largest market share for the month with 6,544 trucks sold, accounting for 40.5% of all sales, but that result marked a 21.5% drop from 8,335 in January 2024. Western Star, another DTNA brand, saw January sales decline 2% to 883 units from 901 last year.
experienced the largest year-over-year percentage increase, with sales jumping 35.2% to 2,547 units from 1,884.
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Mack Trucks’ January sales increased 33.5% to 1,143 from 856 units during the year-ago period, while saw sales decline 21.5% to 1,117 from 1,423 last year. Mack and VTNA are brands of Volvo Group.
“While January reflected typical seasonal patterns, we’re encouraged by the continued strength in vocational segments driven by robust construction activity,” Mack Trucks North America President Jonathan Randall said.“Though the freight market presents near-term challenges, quote activity is consistent and discussions with our customers remain focused on supporting them across all segments.”
Peterbilt Motors Co. sales fell 22.9% to 2,077 units from 2,694. Kenworth Truck Co. sales dropped 25.2% to 1,860 from 2,486. Peterbilt and Kenworth are Paccar Inc. brands.
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