by calculated risk November 12, 2024 12:03:00 PM
This graph shows heavy truck sales since 1967 using data from BEA. The dashed line is the October 2024 seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) of 477,000 units.
Sales of heavy-duty trucks seriously declined during the Great Recession, hitting a low of 180,000 SAAR in May 2009. Heavy truck sales subsequently increased to a new record high of 570,000 SAAR in April 2019.
Click on the graph to see a larger image.
Note: “Large Trucks – Trucks with a gross vehicle weight greater than 14,000 lbs.”
Heavy truck sales in October were 390,000 SAAR, down from 476,000 in September and 14.4% down from 455,000 SAAR in October 2023.
Heavy truck sales typically decline precipitously before a recession. This was only a month ago, and sales may have been affected by the hurricane (and may have been revised upwards).
On the other hand, as I mentioned earlier, sales of light vehicles increased in October.
The second graph shows light vehicle sales since BEA began collecting data in 1967. Vehicle sales in October were SAAR 16.04 million, up from 15.77 million in September and 4.5% from 15.34 million in October 2023.
