Another Month of Home Runs for the Medium Duty Market

Medium duty truck pricing continues to benefit from strong demand for last-mile, general freight, contractor, vocational, and many other segments. The tight supply of new trucks is providing an additional assist. We expect very strong year-over-year comparisons for at least another couple of months.

Starting with Class 3-4 cabovers, April’s average for our benchmark group was $21,020, $946 (4.7%) higher than March, and $5,876 (38.8%) higher than April 2020. The first 4 months of 2021 are running 57.1% higher than the same period of 2020. Trucks in this segment have appreciated 3.2% per month so far in 2021.

Looking at Class 4 conventionals, average pricing for our benchmark group was $26,723, $1,010 (3.9%) higher than March, and $6,460 (31.9%) higher than April 2020. The first 4 months of 2021 are now running 15.4% ahead of the same period of 2020. Trucks in this segment have appreciated an average of 5.2% per month so far in 2021.

Class 6 conventional pricing averaged $27,702 in April, $1,993 (7.8%) higher than March, and $5,904 (27.1%) higher than April 2020. The first 4 months of 2021 are running 15.0% ahead of the same period of 2020. Trucks in this segment have neither gained nor lost any value on average in the first 4 months of 2021.

As long as consumer spending remains hot and parts shortages continue to limit new truck production, medium duty pricing will remain elevated. Stay tuned for more analysis in the May edition of Guidelines, available later this week.