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Medium-Duty Truck Sales Hit 14th Month Below Prior Year
Retail Class 4-7 Volume Declines 14.7% to 17,019 Units, Omdia Reports
Key Takeaways:
- U.S. Classes 4-7 retail truck sales fell 14.7% year over year in March to 17,019, marking the 14th straight monthly decline, Omdia Automotive data show.
- ACT Research’s Steve Tam said weak consumer sentiment and over-capacity at lease rental fleets are keeping medium-duty buyers conservative despite a 25.2% sequential rebound.
- Tam said manufacturers may prioritize heavy-duty output as capacity tightens and production shifts are weighed, potentially limiting medium-duty builds as Class 8 demand competes.
U.S. medium-duty truck sales fell below the previous year for the 14th consecutive month in March, according to data from Omdia Automotive.
Classes 4-7 retail truck sales for the month decreased 14.7% to 17,019 from the 19,942 units reported during the prior-year period. The most recent year-over-year increase occurred in January 2025. But the result also showed a 25.2% sequential increase from 13,591 units.
“The medium-duty market is a little bit more challenged,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said. “In the medium-duty world, the truck is just a tool. It’s helping you either deliver the products that you make or transport whatever service that you’re going to provide.”
Tam noted the heavy-duty side differs in that the truck is the point of the business. It’s not the product or service that is being hauled, but rather the vehicle itself that makes the money. Tam suspects the medium-duty side hasn’t started gaining confidence like its heavy-duty counterparts because of those differences and low consumer sentiment.
“They’re being more conservative,” Tam said. “Also, and I hate to beat a dead horse, the lease rental companies over-capacitized their fleets. Maybe not each and every one of them, but I think as an industry we saw that happen. And so, because they’ve got more trucks than they need, they don’t have to come to the market to purchase more trucks right now.”
Tam has also seen truck manufacturers starting to figure out their production priorities. He suspects capacity is going to be even tighter when production ramps up as the medium-duty classes compete with the heavy-duty side, especially as Class 8 manufacturers consider whether to move more production back to the U.S. from Mexico.
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“They’re moving the pieces around on the chessboard trying to figure out what their next moves are and what their strategies are going to be,” Tam said. “They don’t have infinite capacity here. They’re going to have to make decisions, they’re going to have to make trade-offs, they’re going to have to make compromises. I think the medium-duty market is one place where they can say, let’s not make as many mediums, let’s focus on the heavy side of the business.”
Omdia data showed that Class 7 truck sales declined 7% to 4,662 units from 5,011 a year ago. Class 6 decreased 17.7% to 5,422 units from 6,589. Class 5 fell 18.2% to 5,770 from 7,052. Class 4 declined 9.7% to 1,165 from 1,290 a year earlier.
Freightliner reported the most Class 7 sales at 2,289 units. Ford sold the most Class 6 trucks at 2,414 units, and the most Class 5 vehicles at 1,755. Isuzu sold the most Class 4 units at 653.
