Commercial Truck Blog by Chris Visser

NADA is projecting that its reporting dealers retailed 5.9 trucks per rooftop in October, slightly better than September’s 5.7. Other than the August outlier (at 6.7), every month since May has seen retail sales below 6. Last October came in at 6.7 sales per dealership. The year-to-date average for 2012 is 6.1, essentially identical to last year’s result of 6.2 for the same period.

The reason for this somewhat mediocre performance is well-known by now: Extremely conservative investment strategies driven by political uncertainty. No one believes the Executive and Legislative branches will allow the fiscal cliff to arrive without action, but what is less certain is the extent and timing of the action. Until a compromise is reached, expect these middling results to continue.