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Medium-Duty Truck Demand Falls Again in February
Sales Decreased 14.1% to 13,591 Units
Key Takeaways:
- Classes 4-7 sales for February fell 14.1% to 13,591 units year over year.
- A complicating factor is OEMs' efforts to shift build capacity stateside from Mexico.
- The only increase was in Class 6 sales, improving 0.6% to 5,051 units from 5,019.
U.S. medium-duty truck sales in February continued trending below prior-year results, a pattern that stretches to the beginning of 2025, according to data from Omdia Automotive.
Classes 4-7 retail truck sales for the month decreased 14.1% to 13,591 units from 15,824 a year earlier. The drop marks the 13th consecutive month of year-over-year declines for the segment. The result also marked a 15.2% sequential decline from 16,035 units sold in January.
“There’s a couple of challenges in the medium-duty world that we’ve been dealing with,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said.
He noted that medium-duty plays second fiddle with manufacturing because OEMs will prioritize ramping up production for more profitable Class 8 trucks when the time comes.
He also noted that factors complicating a rebound include efforts to shift build capacity stateside from Mexico, and the medium-duty segment’s exposure to consumer markets.
“Whenever we’ve got these situations going on the Class 8 side, it has an impact on medium duty,” Tam said. “One of the things that we’re kind of seeing now — but also anticipating seeing more of — is just the competition for manufacturing capacity. There are just higher margins on the equipment, and it just makes more sense for them to prioritize that over the lower-margin and smaller vehicles.”
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Tam added, “If anything is going to get cut, or more likely delayed, it’s going to be the medium-duty stuff and individual classes. Once you get below [Class] 8, it doesn’t matter — doesn’t make a difference.”
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Omdia data showed that Class 7 truck sales in February declined 4.7% to 3,964 units from 4,160 a year ago. Class 6 increased 0.6% to 5,051 units from 5,019, while Class 5 decreased 33.1% to 3,696 from 5,528. Class 4 declined 21.2% to 880 from 1,117.
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Freightliner reported the most Class 7 sales at 1,987 units. Ford sold the most Class 6 trucks at 2,443 units, and the most Class 5 vehicles at 1,772. Isuzu sold the most Class 4 units at 499.
“We’re seeing soft demand continue to be the theme of the day in this space,” Tam said.
