Coming off a record sales year, truck dealers are “looking forward” to a slackening of the sales pace in 2000, according to James H. Westlake, director of the American Truck Dealers division of the National Automobile Dealers Assocation. ATD will hold its 37th annual convention and exposition April 8 to 11 in San Antonio.
An estimated 2,000 dealer-managers and their families are expected to attend the meeting to discuss sales and service trends with manufacturer representatives and industry suppliers.
High on the list of concerns of truck dealers, according to Westlake, is the flood of late-model used trucks on the market and the impact that falling used truck prices could have on trade-in policies by major truck manufacturers.
Freightliner Corp. President James L. Hebe recently called for steps to shore up used truck prices in order to prevent a serious erosion in the value of trucking companies, which have most of their assets tied up in equipment.
For the full story, see the Apr. 3 print edition of Transport Topics. .