Class 8 sales skid 19.9% from 2002 levels

Sep 30, 2003 12:00 PM, from staff and wire reports

Sales of heavy-duty Class 8 trucks fell 19.9% in August from the abnormally high levels of a year earlier, and were even down slightly from the recession period of August 2001.

August 2002 was near the peak of a surge of "pre-buy" truck sales as fleets rushed to lock in older models ahead of untried new engine models required as of October 1 to meet toughening federal emission standards.

Sales of 11,413 Class 8 units in August were down from the 14,254 units sold in August 2002, which had the most sales for any month since December 2000.