Commercial Fleet Sales Move 10% Higher in August

Nine manufacturers sold 9.9% more vehicles to commercial fleets in August than a year ago, and year-to-date sales remained robust, especially of trucks, vans, and SUVs. This follows a sales surge in July of 29.8% from 2018.

For the month, sales reached 69,229 vehicles. Most of those vehicles came in the truck category, which saw a 12.9% increase to 64,199. Sales of passenger cars fell 17.9% to 5,030, according to Automotive Fleet data.

Through eight months, sales paced 9.1% higher to 554,050 vehicles, including an 11.9% increase in truck-category sales to 499,162. Car sales have declined 10.8% to 54,888 for the year.

Sales to government fleets from five manufacturers declined 15.3% to 21,011 units. Truck-based sales fell 13.4% to 18,507, while car sales fell 27.1% to 2,504 vehicles. For the year, sales to agencies are 3.8% lower than 2018 with 178,002 units. Sales in the truck category fell 1.7% to 151,151, while car sales have declined 14.2% to 26,851.

Sales into daily rental increased 44.7% to 116,412 in August with a 35.4% increase to 74,465 in truck-based sales and a 64.9% increase to 41,947 in car sales. So far this year, daily rental sales have increased 8.2% to 1.28 million. Of that, truck-based sales increased 9.1% to 795,755, while car sales have increased 6.7% to 489,325.

For all three segments, fleet sales in August increased 22.8% to 206,652 with a 17.9% increase to 157,171 in the truck category and a 41.4% increase to 49,481 in car sales. For the year, the three fleet segments have increased 7.3% to 2.01 million. Sales of trucks, vans, and SUVs have increased 8.8% to 1.44 million, while sales of cars have increased 3.5% to 571,064.