Medium-Duty Truck Sales Soar in July

July was a good month for truck companies. U.S. retail sales of medium-duty trucks — Classes 3-7 — jumped 54.5 percent in July from the corresponding month a year ago, the largest year-over-year gain since mid-2005 and the biggest sales month this year, WardsAuto.com reported.

Medium-duty sales were 24,586 units in July, and the total sold this year through July was 148,103, a 23.9 percent increase from the same 2009 period, Ward’s said. The year-over-year gain was the biggest since July 2005, when sales grew 54.8 percent from the previous July.

The biggest gain in the new report was in Class 3, which more than doubled from 2009. Class 5 sales increased more than 75 percent, while Class 6 trucks had a 20.5 percent sales gain. On the other hand, sales of Class 4 trucks dropped 61.7 percent, while Class 7 sales slipped 0.9 percent.

Through the first seven months of this year, Class 7 sales are down 4.6 percent, while Class 6 sales are up 46.4 precent and Class 5s are up 16.3 percent.