Paccar, parent company of Peterbilt and Kenworth, and Volvo, who also owns Mack, were the first truck and engine makers to the table with first quarter earnings reports.
Paccar reported a 38 percent increase in revenue in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
Its earnings totaled $378.4 million, up from $273.9 million in the first quarter of 2014. First quarter 2015 net sales and financial services revenues of $4.83 billion were 10 percent higher than the $4.38 billion reported in the first three months of last year.
“The truck market is strong due to the good economy, record freight demand and expansion of industry fleet capacity,” said Dan Sobic, Paccar executive vice president.
Volvo Trucks, which also announced Wednesday a change of leadership, reported first quarter net sales of $65.6 billion with truck order intake increasing by 3 percent.
“During the quarter, we sold a total of slightly more than 48,000 trucks, which is about as many as in the first quarter of 2014,” says Volvo Group acting president and CEO Jan Gurander.
Although the number of Volvo trucks sold did not appreciably increase, the truck operation’s underlying operating income doubled and the operating margin went from 4.1 percent to 7.3 percent.
Sales of Volvo-branded trucks in North America totaled 11,200, up from 9,430 in the first quarter of 2014. Mack sales totaled 7,977, up from 6,845 trucks in the first quarter of 2014.
Cummins and Daimler are expected to release their first quarter earnings reports next week. Navistar reports on a different schedule.