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This story appears in the April 18 print edition of Transport Topics.

Class 8 retail truck sales in the United States soared 44.2% in March from a year earlier to the highest level in nearly four years, with all original equipment manufacturers posting volume gains of at least 10%.

WardsAuto.com said OEMs sold 13,010 heavy-duty trucks during the month — the most since April 2007 — and far more than the 9,025 in March 2010. First-quarter sales of 31,958 were 34.1% ahead of last year’s first-quarter total of 23,839.

Truck dealers were simultaneously pleased and worried, said Kyle Treadway, chairman of the American Truck Dealers.

“We’re seeing a definite improvement in demand, but we’re worried it could be on shaky ground with the price of fuel rising severely and the fuel standard expected to come,” said Treadway, a Utah-based dealer of Kenworth Trucks, referring to anticipated federal fuel-efficiency rules.

Treadway said that “absolutely” new sales are on the rise because fleets have picked clean the supply of low-mileage used trucks.

He also noted an increase in sales of new stock units — trucks taken right off dealer lots. The fact that buyers would relax their normal vehicle specifications suggests that fleet buyers “want trucks now. They can’t wait four months,” he said.

Truck sales were at record levels in 2006 before dropping and then plunging through 2009. Fleets wanted to avoid engine emission controls mandated by federal regulations for 2007 and then the recession sliced into sales, which did not begin to recover until last year.

“We expected March to be around 11,000, so this is great. Trucks are moving off of lots,” said Eric Starks, president of FTR Associates. Starks said the sharp climb in orders in recent months suggests that monthly sales will average 13,500 through the middle of this year.

WardsAuto.com reported that Volvo Trucks North America had a 167% improvement in March and an 82% gain for the quarter, compared with those periods in 2010. The WardsAuto.com’s report said VTNA monthly sales catapulted to 1,653 from 619 — and for the quarter to 3,726 from 2,047.

“To meet strong market projections and rising order activity, we’re increasing production and hiring at our New River Valley plant in Dublin, Va.,” said Ron Huibers, VTNA’s senior vice president for sales and marketing.

VTNA took third place for both the month and the quarter.

At the Mid-America Trucking Show, Bill Kozek, general manager of Kenworth Truck Co., predicted that March would be a breakout month. Kenworth, a division of Paccar Inc., posted a 75.4% increase for the month, selling 1,345 trucks, compared with 859 a year ago. Quarterly sales rose 54.9% to 3,589.

“We’re cautiously optimistic. Our backlog is growing, and the economy is growing. We’re running two shifts at our Chillicothe, Ohio, plant,” Kozek said. He said for-hire and private fleets with over-the-road operations are the main buyers, although vocational sales are rising.

Freightliner Trucks, the flagship brand of Daimler Trucks North America, had the month’s biggest total, selling 4,982 heavy trucks, or 46.8% more than the 3,393 it moved in March 2010. Its first-quarter sales were up 48.2% to 12,052 units.

Navistar Inc. took second place, selling 2,425 Class 8 International trucks, a 21.9% increase from 1,989 a year ago. The three-month total was up just 1.1%, the lowest quarterly rate of any manufacturer, to 6,195 vehicles.

“Our backlog is picking up and production is, too. We’re confident that we’ll have a good year,” Navistar spokesman Roy Wiley said, adding that Navistar now has a 15-liter engine to sell, along with its 13-liter product.

Looking at first-quarter market share, Freightliner gained 3.6 percentage points to 37.7%, Volvo gained 3.1 points to 11.7%, and Kenworth picked up 1.5 points to 11.2%. Navistar lost 6.3 percentage points to 19.4%, and Peterbilt Motors lost 1.4 points to 11%. Peterbilt Motors Co., like Kenworth a Paccar company, had monthly sales of 1,345, up from 1,217. Its 10.5% monthly increase was the lowest rate of any OEM. Quarterly sales rose 19.1% to 3,512 vehicles.

Mack Trucks took sixth place, selling 973 Class 8s, an improvement of 17.1% over the 831 from a year ago. Mack’s year-to-date sales rose 30.8% to 2,500.