Back in January when we posted our industry status report on the dealer, aftermarket and supplier channels, the general theme across our articles was 2024 would be a stable but uninspiring year.
In conjunction with that report, we also put a poll question up on the website, asking readers what they were expecting for truck sales this year. We had already surveyed our audience once, last fall, but that was before 2023 books were closed. We thought asking one more time was worthwhile. After all, truck sales more than any other factor impact dealer business decisions, and often have a cascading effect into the aftermarket.
I’m happy to report responses to our poll both tracked in line with our fall survey responses, and also leaned more optimistic than pessimistic.
Among the 364 responses, 23% predicted truck sales this year will be similar to 2023, with another 21% expecting the industry to be up 1-5% year over year. Beyond there, another 14% of responders are expecting sales up 6-10% from 2023 and 10% are expecting this year to be at least 11% better than the last.
That’s a combined 65% of responders expecting equal or better sales totals in 2024. Those are good numbers for any industry but especially the truck world, where 2023 deliveries were the best in four years.
Admittedly, using a catch-all term like sales could have skewed responses up slightly. Truck orders have been remarkably robust in the first two months of the year, which both starts this year from a position of strength against 2023 comparisons while also increasing the likelihood that delivery levels remain high well into the fall.
