Retail truck sales up 18% in December

Franchised dealers of U.S. truck manufacturers sold 882,307 units in December 2003 -- 18.5% above sales for the month a year ago -- according to data published by Ward's Communications. All classes showed a gain. The biggest gain came in Class 5, where sales went up 61.8% (3,282 from 2,028). The smallest gain came in Class 2, where sales went up 5.9% (272,388 from 257,273).Year-to-date, Class 1 has the biggest gain (25.2%), while Class 7 is down 3.7% and Class 8 is down 2.8%.