NAFA President Claude Masters moderated the OEM panel at the NAFA Institute & Expo, which took place April 8-11 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The panel discussion included fleet representatives from truck and car manufacturers and kicked off the second day of sessions at the conference.
“When we look at the commercial segment, we separate cars and utilities from trucks and vans,” said Fritz Ahadi, general manager for commercial and government fleet operations for Ford Motor Co. “Cars and utilities are steady, but there is a lot of demand for trucks and vans.”
Demand for trucks and vans is growing among commercial buyers, and manufacturers expect steady growth for the rest of the year. Included are buyers in the construction, energy and housing segments,
The commercial segment could sell between 2.7 million and 2.8 million units this year, said Ed Peper, U.S. vice president for fleet and commercial sales for General Motors Co. “There are a lot of vehicles that are way up there in age, and a lot of them need to be replaced,” he said. GM’s commercial sales increased 7% in the first quarter.
Commercial sales were “down just a tad” in the first quarter, said Frank Dankovich, Chrysler Group’s director of fleet sales. But he said he believes a severe winter contributed to that, and he has a positive outlook for the rest of the year.
“We are finally seeing a return to normalcy on the commercial side,” said Paul Jontig, national fleet sales manager for Toyota Motor Sales USA.