Nearly 1.3 million commercial vehicles — both new and used — were registered in the United States in 2013, up 4.3 percent from the year before, says a new report by IHS Automotive, formerly Polk, a global automotive market intelligence firm based in Southfield.
Since 2009, used commercial vehicle registrations outperformed new commercial vehicle registrations, with used trucks growing 4.7 percent over 2012. In comparison, new registrations were up 3.8 percent.
“The continued strength of used commercial vehicle transactions during the 2013 calendar year reflects a competitive market for clean used equipment as it becomes available,” says Gary Meteer, IHS’s director of global commercial vehicle products. “We see high demand for clean used equipment for the replacement of significantly older (pre-2000 model year) equipment.”
Meeter said more than 1.5 million pre-2000 model year commercial vehicles have been replaced by newer used equipment over the past five years.
According to IHS officials, used commercial vehicle registrations accounted for 38 to 48 percent of all commercial registrations between 2004 and 2008. Since then, used registrations have accounted for between 54 and 64 percent each year.
While the new commercial vehicle market has been relatively flat over the past 10 quarters, Meteer says an increase in the third and fourth quarters of last year provide optimism heading into 2014.
For a complete copy of the 2013 vehicle report, click here.
