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By Seth Clevenger, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Jan. 21 print edition of Transport Topics.

U.S. Class 8 truck sales declined for a fourth straight month in December from the previous year, but 2012 still finished as the strongest year since 2006, WardsAuto.com reported.

Total sales in December were 18,130, the highest of any month in 2012, but that was still 13.4% below the 20,939 trucks sold in December 2011.

For the year, sales rose to 194,715, up 13.6% from 2011, and the highest total since the 284,008 sold in 2006.

“Last year was really a tale of two halves,” said Bill Kozek, general manager for Peterbilt Motors Co.

After a strong first half, manufacturers faced challenges in the second half as some buyers delayed purchases because of uncertainty about the election, taxes and the economy in general, he said.

December historically is the strongest sales month of any year, but in 2012 it was only slightly higher than the 18,012 total in May, the year’s second-best month.

John Walsh, vice president of marketing at Mack Trucks Inc., characterized the 2012 Class 8 market as one of “conflicting forces.”

Aging equipment and relatively good truck tonnage levels provided an impetus to purchase new trucks, he said, but economic, fiscal and political uncertainty led some customers to stick with their existing trucks longer than they normally would.

“With the election and fiscal cliff behind us, the U.S. economy expected to continue to gradually improve, and signs of life in construction, we’re hopeful that more customers will come off the sidelines in 2013,” Walsh said.

Although the industry’s annual sales tally has risen three years in a row since bottoming out at 94,798 in 2009, last year still didn’t reach the sales levels of 2004 to 2006, when the industry sold more than 200,000 trucks each year.

“We loved those years,” said Peterbilt’s Kozek.

In December, Daimler Trucks North America’s Freightliner brand sold 5,486 trucks, up 0.5% from the previous year. For all of 2012, Freightliner led the industry with 63,975 trucks sold, a 22.4% gain from 2011. The brand also expanded its leading market share to 32.9% in 2012, from 30.5% in 2011.

Sales of Navistar Inc.’s International trucks fell 29.8% in December to 2,668. For the year, International ranked No. 2 in sales with 34,824, despite a 3.1% decline from 2011. The company’s market share dropped to 17.9% in 2012, from 21%.

DTNA and Navistar did not provide comment for this story.

Paccar Inc.’s two operating companies — Kenworth Truck Co. and Peterbilt Motors Co. — both sold fewer trucks in December than in the same month a year ago, but posted higher sales for the year.

Kenworth’s December sales declined 8.7% from a year ago, to 2,807, while Peterbilt sold 2,687 trucks during the month, down 19.2%.

For the year, Kenworth’s sales climbed 23% to 27,778, edging past Peterbilt to take third place in U.S. sales. Kenworth’s market share grew to 14.3% in 2012, from 13.2%.

Peterbilt’s full-year sales rose 10.9% to 27,255, but its market share dipped to 14%, from 14.3%.

Volvo Trucks’ December sales fell 26.7% to 2,400. For the year, Volvo sales were nearly flat, with 2012’s total of 20,921 coming up 34 trucks short of the previous year’s tally. The brand’s market share decreased to 10.7%, from 12.2% in 2011.

Göran Nyberg, Volvo Trucks’ president of North American sales and marketing, said, “The strong concentration of longhaul business that spurred record market share in 2011 was largely replaced by regional and small carriers — two segments where we have significant room for growth.”

Mack Trucks, which is part of Volvo Group, sold 1,802 trucks in December, up 4.8% from the same month the prior year. Mack also posted the industry’s largest percentage gain in sales for 2012. The company sold 17,327 trucks during the year, a 34% jump from 2011. Market share rose to 8.9% from 7.5%.

DTNA’s Western Star brand sold 279 trucks in December, one more than a year ago. For the year, Western Star’s sales climbed 25.5% to 2,623, representing a 1.3% market share.

Steve Parker, dealer principal for the Baltimore Potomac Truck Group, expressed a positive outlook for the year ahead.

“There’s still a certain degree of uncertainty out there, but overall I’m optimistic that the 2013 calendar year will come in equal to or even modestly better than 2012,” said Parker, whose company sells Mack and Volvo trucks and operates six locations in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas.

“The two major factors I see driving this are replacement trucks and the vocational and construction segment, which has been long dormant, finally starting to show some signs of life,” he added.

Parker, who also serves as American Truck Dealers’ Mack line representative, said the continued reliability and efficiency of the 2010 emissions technology, using selective catalytic reduction, is another positive factor for 2013.

“It’s a vast improvement over the 2007 technology — and I think that bodes well for the future,” Parker said.