Show Report: Participants optimistic about the future at Mid-America Trucking Show

摘要

USA - With the US economy showing signs of recovery that are better than were expected just a few months ago, the mood was upbeat at the recent Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky, the largest truck show in the U.S. With markets in the NAFTA region recording double-digit growth in 2010, truck manufacturers at the show reflected on recent sales successes. The upturn was widely viewed as a result of a significant increase in demand for transport services, and in turn for commercial vehicles. Andreas Renschler, the Daimler Board of Management member responsible for Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses, said: "We are expecting significant growth in the US truck market this year, particularly in sales of trucks in Classes 6 to 8. As a result, we will revise our original 2011 growth forecast for the NAFTA region upward. We expect that the truck market in the NAFTA region will grow this year by 30 to 35 per cent. Up to now the growth prognosis was 20 to 25 per cent." (Full year 2010 production of 154, 290 Class 8 vehicles in the US was up 30% from 2009). Kevin Flaherty, Mack senior vice president, US and Canada, said: "While demand for vocational vehicles remains low, we're encouraged by a number of factors," Flaherty stated that Mack expected a Class 8 North American market this year in the range of 220,000 trucks, driven primarily by replacement demand for the existing US fleet, which at an average age of eight years, was the oldest since deregulation in 1981. To accommodate rising demand for commercial vehicles in NAFTA, truck manufacturers have been expanding production in 2011 across all market segments. Consequently, a number of truck and tractor, trailer and component manufacturers used the show to introduce new products and product enhancements for the recovering market.