Going into the winter industry shows all of the manufacturers will be asking about the marketplace. As I predicted at last year's shows the economy not so stellar during the election year. I can go back more than 20 plus years and watch the trends and it has happened every election year.
Why? Because both parties is to scare people so they vote for them!
Along with this atmosphere is a very concerned public who watches every dollar out the door. Which explains the whole rebuild scenario at our diesel shops.
It is still cheaper to rebuild drivetrain (motor/tranny) or make repairs than it is to buy a new truck along with high property taxes/monthly payment/insurance.
They just suck it up and say I can patch this one together and get another couple of years out of it. According to S&P Global average ownership is now 12.5 years for pickup truck or longer depending on the section of the country. Easily in the Midwest I would say 14-18 years in today's economy.
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This trend keep our shops very busy with repairs and rebuilds for motors and transmissions! Any shop will have trucks in their yards, some waiting line to get worked on or many waiting on parts that are hard to find.
What does the customer want on their rebuilds? Stock/OEM or midlevel or high performance?
Most are reporting mid-level rebuilds as an average. Rebuild them but make them just a step above OEM so it would last longer. If they are spending the monies to rebuild they want a superior product. The high performance does not fit the economy right now, possible changes next year depending on outcome of election.
The move to US built products have accelerated over the past year with many parts being re-tooled locally. The quality from foreign manufacturing is low quality and breaking because of inferior metals or assembly. Do US parts cost more? Yes, but our truck guys don't care if it will last for years and not months.
However, hard to buy US when 80% of the replacement parts including OEM are manufactured offshore. So the struggle continues by local shops of finding parts so they can finish the jobs. I have been encouraging our sponsors and others to offer more internal parts used in rebuilding the drive-trains of these HD trucks.
Anything fuel related, cooling, motor, transmission and suspension is a must to keep our trucks on the road. I'm seeing some great older trucks at the shows this year along with the lifted wheel/tire SEMA trucks too!
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