Navistar predicts slight 2.4% recovery in big truck buys
Sales may improve more in 2010 from new engine requirements
By Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 1/6/2009 1:52:00 PM
Engine manufacturer Navistar International has forecast an earlier-than-expected recovery in American commercial truck sales: CEO Daniel Ustian expects North American truck sales to recover by 5,900 units this fiscal year and suggests in a press release an even stronger rebound in 2010.
Auto suppliers such as Navistar have been suffering from deep North American motor vehicle production cuts. Navistar agreed in an earlier press release that the commercial truck industry “is severely depressed in North America,” and estimated industry shipments of 244,100 Class 6-8 units in 2008--“nearly half the industry volume two years earlier and far weaker than many had predicted.” In 2007, comparable industry volume had totaled 319,000 units.
Ustian agrees that the industry is likely to remain challenged in 2009 but still sees U.S. and Canadian retail sales volume for Class 6-8 trucks rising by 2.5% to around 5,900 vehicles. Global Insight economist Kenneth J. Kremar is not so optimistic: His forecast for Class 3-8 truck sales in 2009 is 372,103 units, a 14% drop from 2008.
Looking ahead to 2010, Navistar and other engine makers are working to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2010 emissions standards. Ustain says “Navistar is fully prepared to meet 2010 requirements” but is advocating that buyers be allowed to purchase 2007- and 2010-compliant engines “in these catastrophic economic times.”
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