After ending 2018 with the third largest annual sales total this century, the Class 8 new truck market set another milestone in January 2019.
According to Wards Intelligence, Class 8 new truck sales for the first month of 2019 set a record for the century with 20,192 units sold. The next highest total was in 2006, the record-setting year, when 19,229 units were sold in January.
The annual total in 2006 was 284,008.
The January 2019 sales total is 39.7 percent higher than January 2018 when 14,458 units were sold.
The only negative about the January sales figure was that is represented a 22.7 percent decline from December 2018. The drop certainly wasn’t unprecedented, especially since December typically ranks among the highest months of the year, if not the highest, which it has been the past two years.
Freightliner showed the largest year-over-year increase at 76.1 percent with January 2019 sales of 9,205 compared with 5,228 in January 2018. International was up 45.9 percent year-over-year with January 2019 sales of 3,150 compared with 2,159 in January 2018.
Only International at 4.3 percent and Freightliner at 2 percent posted month-over-month gains.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
