LOMBARD, Ill. — Booming truck sales record of 2006 is demand driven, says North American trucking market research firm MacKay & Co.

“Forget the ‘pre-buy,’ fleets are buying trucks because they need more trucks,” says President Stu MacKay.

After three quarters of year-over-year decreases, a second quarter survey shows 0.4 point increase in Class 6-8 utilization to record 88.7 percent, surpassing the previous second quarter high set a year ago.

Even with strong retail sales, Class 8 utilization was a record 89.5 percent, up 0.3 point from a strong 2nd quarter last year, MacKay finds. The biggest gains were private fleets and construction-vocational companies, both up 1.7 points.

Owner-operator utilization was up 0.8 point, while lease-rental jumped 1.5 points. For-hire dipped 0.3 point.

“When Class 8 utilization was trending lower during 2005’s third quarter through 2006’s first quarter, it seemed reasonable to believe much of the strength in Class 8 retail sales was due to a pre-buy meant to avoid the purchase of unproven and higher priced ’07 engines,” MacKay said. “However, strong sales together with increasing vehicle utilization implies fleets need the trucks.”

— Via Heavy Duty Trucking