William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Jul 24, 2012 12:34PM EDT
A weak U.S. economy and uncertainty in Europe could dampen truck orders for the remainder of 2012, Paccar’s Chairman and CEO Mark Piggott warned.
Truck orders, which soared last year, hit a “soft patch” this spring as confidence in the staying power of the U.S. economic recovery faltered, according to ACT Research.
The uncertain economic outlook hasn’t dampened Paccar’s finances, however. The company’s revenue rose 12.6 percent to $4.46 billion in the second quarter.
Truck sales accounted for $4.2 billion of that total, and financial services $226.1 million, the manufacturer of Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF trucks said Monday.
Paccar’s net profit for the quarter rose 24 percent from a year ago to $297.2 million.
Paccar’s Kenworth and Peterbilt brands represent 29.9 percent of the North American heavy truck market, said Dan Sobic, executive vice president.
In the U.S. and Canada, “customers are benefiting from higher freight tonnage, improved fleet utilization rates and lower fuel prices,” Sobic said.
Total Class 8 retail sales in the U.S. and Canada this year are expected to be in the 210,000 to 230,000 range, compared with 197,000 in 2011, according to Paccar. That would represent an annual increase of 6.6 percent to 16.8 percent.
Paccar more than doubled its net profit in 2011 to $1.04 billion as sales of Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks pushed revenue up 59 percent to $16.3 billion.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @wbcassidy_joc.
