Coming into a new year, trucking companies are trying to plan out their next moves when it comes to taking care of their fleets. ACTResearch.net states that, for this year, “Prices are being set, and the order books are about to open… Industry sentiment, however, remains cautious.” While some companies are pricing out new trucks, others prefer to maintain their trucks for as long as possible. Knowing that government and environmental activists are increasingly lobbying for “greener” trucks and with more rules governing truck emissions going into effect as soon as 2027, caution may seem to be the most prudent move. Along with these increasingly more environmentally friendly tractors, more technologically advanced trucks, such as autonomous semi-trucks, are starting to be developed, built, and even tested out on the road. The options for different trucks are expanding daily, but, as usual, the latest and greatest will always come with a higher price tag. Not only that, but the technicians and mechanics to work on these trucks are still being trained on them. With the price of a new truck coming in at roughly $55,000 - $70,000, these are all important, as well as risky, factors to consider when making tractor purchases for trucking companies and owner-operators.
For now, everyone understands that traditional semi-trucks are still needed to transport goods back and forth across the country. The sale of tractors has become an ever increasingly important indicator at how well the trucking industry is doing. With the arrival of 2025, carriers are finding “…greater demand for trucks to haul freight in the new year and fewer trucks available to haul it…” However, until the much needed testing is completed on the brand new trucks being developed, it is imperative for trucking companies to be able to purchase new and used trucks to keep their businesses running, and the rate at which these trucks are sold is slowly increasing, which is a good sign. Today, the LZBlog is looking at how truck sales are trending from 2024 to 2025!
“We got a little ol’ convoy…”
Truck sales have been caught up in the same ebbs and flows as the rest of the trucking industry. From the Covid-19 pandemic to the Great Freight Recession, truck makers have struggled to stay afloat, just as trucking companies have. Finally, in 2025, retailers feel like they are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, and it does not appear to be a train. “Truck makers are becoming more optimistic about the prospects for 2025 Class 8 purchases, largely as a result of an anticipated turnaround… and expectations that carriers will add equipment before another round of emissions regulations take effect for 2027 model-year trucks.” Sales of new trucks, which has been down since 2020, are beginning to come back up to pre-pandemic levels, but they are not there yet.
One of the first boosts to truck sales, surprisingly enough, came when the Federal Reserve began to cut interest rates in the last half of 2024. Allowing better deals for financing these big trucks, trucking companies and those who run smaller owner-operator operations began to slowly purchase some tractors. Now, though, the newest indication that truck sales were turning around came as recently as last Thanksgiving. While prices remained stable through most of the previous year, November 2024 surprised many truck retailers; they found that they had an increase in truck sales for the month, which is not normal for a month with a big holiday like Thanksgiving. Over 37,000 new trucks were sold last November, however. While many blame this on a combination of post-election optimism, there are also experts who believe that these sales were boosted due to fears of promised tariffs making trucks and truck parts more expensive in 2025. Either way, “…executives at Paccar Inc. and Volvo Group said during recent third-quarter earnings calls they expect an upturn from the on-highway market in the coming months.”
Even the sale of used trucks went up over 2024. TheTrucker.com stated that “Compared with November 2023, used tractor sales rose 24%.” This means that the industry is seeing many owner-operators, who jumped out of trucking during the pandemic, are finding enough work to purchase a used truck to rejoin the industry. While many see this as “complicating the supply-demand balance,” other experts believe it is a sign of the transportation industry regaining much needed lost ground.
Conclusion
So, what does this all mean? Instead of dumping the numbers of trucks purchased from each manufacturing company into this blog, it seems more productive to summarize thusly: for now, the trucking industry is experiencing a moment of cautious optimism. Truck sales have been steadily rising over 2024, and many experts expect that to continue into the first quarter of 2025. Purchases of both new and used trucks are climbing. Between decreasing interest rates and increasing freight orders, it seems that, for now, the transportation industry is poised to see many more tractors beginning to travel up and down America’s highways.
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Meaghan Goldberg covers recruitment and digital marketing for Lionzone. A Patterson, GA native, after graduating from both Valdosta State University and Middle Tennessee State University, Meaghan joined Lionzone in 2018 as a digital recruitment strategist before becoming the social media manager.
Resources:
https://www.ttnews.com/articles/pre-buy-2025-sales-oem
https://www.actresearch.net/resources/blog/trucks-orders-2025
