Revenues in the quarter slid 6 percent $1.7 billion, a decline of six percent from the first quarter last year. The decrease primarily reflects lower truck volumes due to soft Class 8 heavy industry conditions and lower global sales.
Navistar Chairman President and CEO Troy Clarke noted a bright spot was that the company’s order share continues to outpace its market share, signaling growing confidence in the retail share improvement to come.
“At the same time,” he adds, “we are rolling out a steady stream of new product introductions that are helping us generate new sales opportunities, and position us to take advantage of the anticipated Class 8 rebound in the second half.”
In the first quarter, Navistar began deliveries of its new International LT Series long-haul truck and last week unveiled its new International A26 engine, which the company expects will drive improved share in the 13-liter segment.
“We essentially doubled our penetration in the important rental and leasing segment, which is a very encouraging sign,” Clarke says. “And thanks to our new LT series on-highway tractor, we are back in the door with several large private carriers we haven’t sold to in a number of years.”
Clarke says in the first quarter, the company received more than 5,000 orders for the LT, and shipped approximately 2,500 units. He adds quoting activity was up in 2016 versus 2015, a trend that appears to be continuing and if not accelerating.
“For instance in 2016, we quoted 20 of the Top 50 customers in the market,” Clarke says. “With the largest customers, we quoted 20 percent more of them than we did the previous year. We got awarded 50 percent more than we did the previous year.”
Clarke reiterated that Navistar plans to continue to introduce new products every four to six months through the end of next year, refreshing its entire product portfolio, while also expanding it with its re-entry into Class 4/5 vehicles through its collaboration with General Motors.
Last month, the company began production on its other major project with the Detroit automaker when it began manufacturing General Motors’ cutaway G van at its Springfield, Ohio plant. In addition to generating additional revenues, it will also help enhance the company’s manufacturing capacity utilization.
