April Class 8 Truck Sales Slip 8.7% as Market Slump Persists
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U.S. Class 8 retail sales closed in on nearly two years of year-over-year declines in April, according to data from Wards Intelligence.
Sales decreased 8.7% to 18,078 units from 19,798 in April 2024 and were down 3.2% sequentially from the 18,682 units reported this March. Year-to-date sales are down 9.2% to 68,680 units from 75,657.
“What you’re seeing in Class 8 truck sales really is a reflection of the broader economy,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said. “The number to us was not surprising. You typically do see about a 3% or 4% sequential decline going from March to April, and if I step back and look at the bigger picture, our forecast actually calls for about a 9% decline in sales this year, and we’re right on track.”
Wards found that only two of the seven major truck makers experienced year-over-year sales increases. Freightliner, a brand of Daimler Truck North America, claimed the largest market share with 6,551 trucks sold, accounting for 36.2% of all sales. This marked a 1% increase from 6,483 the prior year. Western Star, another DTNA brand, experienced the largest year-over-year percentage increase at 19.1% to 1,059 from 889.
Western Star experienced the biggest year-over-year sales increase for April at 19.1%. (Daimler Truck North America)
While President Donald Trump continues his tariff-focused trade war with global trading partners, the White House recently reached a 90-day truce with China under which the two sides agreed to temporarily lower their respective rates on each other. The move prompted ACT to hold firm on its most recent truck sales projection for the year.
“We’re not going to chase this thing to the bottom because, the thinking was, cooler heads have got to prevail,” Tam said. “If we go down the path that we were set to go down, it’s not only disastrous for the domestic economy, but now it’s going to have significant unfavorable ramifications on the global economy.”
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Tam stressed that simply pausing the higher tariff rates will lead to continued simmering economic uncertainty. He noted this is having a greater effect on truck production as opposed to sales, including adjustments to build plans.
“While April’s Class 8 retail sales faced expected year-over-year headwinds, we’ve seen a slight strengthening since the first two months of the year,” said Jonathan Randall, president of Mack Trucks North America. “The freight market continues to be weak, and economic uncertainties are affecting customer purchase commitments for new trucks. Despite these market conditions, Mack Trucks remains focused on delivering the products and services our customers rely on.”
Mack Trucks reported sales decreased 2.1% to 1,504 units from 1,536. Volvo Trucks North America saw sales fall 25.8% to 1,511 units from 2,037 last year. Mack and VTNA are brands of Volvo Group.
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“In general, [sales] held up fairly well compared to what we thought they would be,” FTR Transportation Intelligence Chairman Eric Starks said. “People were still looking to get some purchases done before more uncertainty happens in the marketplace. You still have a fair amount of inventory out there. So I think that they can be a little bit more price competitive at the moment based upon that. So all in all, I thought it was a pretty good month given the amount of uncertainty that’s out there right now.”
“The April Class 8 truck sales figures are not a surprise to us or our clients,” said John Crum, commercial banking head of specialty equipment finance and leasing at Wells Fargo. “While stuck in a longer-than-anticipated downturn, the freight industry is awaiting certainty on tariffs before committing to higher levels of new equipment purchases. The recent pause on reciprocal tariffs is a positive step towards building the necessary industry confidence to see a meaningful increase in new equipment purchases.”
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Crum added that carriers are likely to wait until the final frameworks are in place before increasing their purchases of long-term assets, even with the recent pause potentially leading to an increase in freight activity and pricing due to a stockpiling effect.
Per ACT, International Motors sales fell 32.1% to 1,315 units from 1,938. Peterbilt Motors Co. sales declined 6.7% to 3,096 units from 3,319. Kenworth Truck Co. sales dropped 15.2% to 3,038 units from 3,581. Peterbilt and Kenworth are Paccar Inc. brands.
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