Sep 1, 2008 12:00 PM

The economy being what it is nowadays, the percentage of heavy-duty truck owners who say they “definitely will” purchase or lease a new truck in the next 12 months has reached the lowest level since 2002, found J.D. Power and Associates' 2008 Heavy-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study.

The study, which began tracking heavy-duty customer purchase intent in 2002, found that 25% of Class 8 truck owners indicated they will definitely purchase or lease a new truck in the next year. That is down from 41% in 2006, when sales were at historically high levels.

While 63% of owners in 2006 intended to add trucks to increase the size of their fleet inventory, only 54% said they plan to do the same in 2008, said J.D. Power's researcher Brian Etchells.

The low rate of purchase intent “suggests that industry-wide sales may not experience a quick rebound,” he said. “Many factors, in addition to the pre-buy and new emission technology, could be playing a role in the current sales slump. With the poor economic climate and rising fuel costs, both owner operators and fleets are struggling to stay profitable.”

The study, which focuses on owner operators and smaller fleets with an average fleet size of 53 trucks at a single location, measures the satisfaction of primary maintainers of two-year-old Class 8 over-the-road and vocational trucks.