For the second month running, sales of Class 8 trucks were down by more than 50 percent in July compared to monthly figures from a year ago.

According to Ward’s Automotive, about 10,000 Class 8 trucks were sold last month, compared to more than 22,000 sold in July 2006.

Expressed as a percentage, sales for the year so far are off a little more than 40 percent when compared with 2006.

However, Sterling Trucks – which was founded in 1998 by Freightliner as a new subsidiary – is bucking the trend. According to Ward’s, the company’s sales are down only 14 percent, improving Sterling’s market share in the last year from about 6 percent to 8.5 percent.