New Truck Sales – Highest June Since ’06, Downturn Coming

Heavy-duty new truck sales last month posted the best June in six years, and the second best total of 2012 ” but the latest numbers also support the opinion of industry analysts who suggest that the market has peaked.

According to figures provided to The Trucker by Ward’s Automotive, Class 8 sales totaled 17,484 trucks in the United States, up 19.4 percent from June 2011 but down 2.9 percent from May. And while the year-over-year improvement was the 30th consecutive, the June gain was the smallest since December 2010.

Year to date, 99,246 Class 8 trucks have been sold in the U.S. ” a 37.7 percent improvement over the first six months of 2011. That total is 128 percent higher than the sales for the same period in 2009, the worst year in a generation. The first half of this year still trails 2006, but the industry has closed the gap: Truck makers are now 29 percent behind the boom times.

Find out more about what’s driving the current upswing in semi truck sales at The Trucker.