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U.S. Class 8 retail sales jumped 30% year over year in September, while year-to-date sales remain down 5%.
Omdia Automotive data reported 21,095 units were sold, up from 16,228 during the prior-year period.
The results also came in 13.6% above the 18,575 units reported in August. Sales for the year, however, have decreased 5% to 152,960 from 160,981 in 2025.
“We’re encouraged,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam said. “Production has taken awhile to ramp, and if you don’t build it, if you don’t have it, you can’t sell it. So the build numbers are getting to the point where we do actually have something to sell. But I think more importantly, September kind of represents the sprint to the year-end.”
Tam suspects that the monthly sales figure was coming in strong already when it was further bolstered by seasonal factors, with those typically driving about a 10% gain from August. He also has been hearing indications that carriers have had a generally positive third quarter.
“We do have favorable depreciation scheme in play,” Tam said. “So as the calendar gets nearer and thinner for the remainder of the year, I think folks are looking at tax planning and that sort of thing, and so maybe taking advantage of Section 179.”
The U.S. Internal Revenue Code allows businesses to immediately deduct qualifying equipment and vehicles, rather than depreciating over years, with that section.
Tam said his team has hypothesized that for-hire carrier profitability has been a main driver behind retail sales in 2026. He also has seen some activity from private fleets as they bring more operations in-house.
“There’s still a lot that’s probably general freight-related since that’s the biggest piece, and that portion of the market seems to be holding up OK,” Tam said.
Six of seven OEMs show an increase
Omdia data showed that all but one of the seven major truck manufacturers experienced an increase in sales from the previous year. Freightliner, a brand of Daimler Truck North America, claimed the largest market share at 37.4% with 7,888 trucks sold. This marked the largest percentage increase at 45.7% from 5,413. Western Star sales declined 25.5% to 706 from 948.
International sales increased 38.8% to 2,484 from 1,790 reported last year. Peterbilt Motors Co. truck sales grew 25.2% to 3,097 from 2,473. Kenworth Truck Co. sales increased 19.7% to 3,055 units from 2,552. Mack Trucks sales rose 8.2% to 1,679 units from 1,552.
“The pace of retails continued to improve year over year in September, and the industry saw good improvement month over month,” said Jonathan Randall, president of Mack Trucks North America. “Strong freight rates and signs of improving freight demand are resulting in stronger fleet demand for new trucks. We expect the pace of retail sales to continue to improve as freight rates remain elevated, freight demand continues to increase and pre-buy activity picks up.”
Volvo Trucks sales jumped 45% to 2,170 from the 1,497 units reported in the year-ago period.
Magnus Koeck, vice president of strategy, marketing and brand management at VTNA, said September has been its strongest month of the year. “It’s expected we now see retails coming up the last four months of the year, as it reflects a market that is gradually strengthening.”
Koeck expects to continue to see replacements for new equipment because many carriers have an aging fleet. He also stressed that as fleets modernize their operations, technologies that deliver measurable performance improvements are becoming even more important. He pointed to the Volvo VNL and Volvo VNR with their focus on fuel savings, safety and connectivity.
Class 6 leads medium-duty
Omdia Automotive found that Class 6 was the only medium-duty category that gained since last year at 28% to 6,611 units from 5,164. Tam speculates that the trend of sales favoring the higher medium-duty classes in recent years could be explained by some trucking operations prioritizing lower-weight vehicles that don’t require a commercial driver license.
“The story there is largely unchanged,” Tam said. “The thing that caught my eye was actually the small uptick in Class 5 on a month-over-month basis. That’s the first time we’ve seen that since the June time frame. I don’t know what to ascribe it to, maybe it’s just they’re able to catch their breath.”
Other Medium-duty classes
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Class 7 decreased 7.8% to 4,324 from 4,688 units.
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Class 5 declined 27% to 4,442 from 6,083 units.
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Class 4 slipped 1.5% to 966 from 981 units.
Class 7 decreased 7.8% to 4,324 from 4,688 units.
Class 5 declined 27% to 4,442 from 6,083 units.
Class 4 slipped 1.5% to 966 from 981 units.
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