Fleet Equipment & Manufacturers Analysis

Analysis

· as of June 1, 2026

The most telling pattern in the FMCSA equipment data is not who dominates the market but how old the fleet running on U.S. roads actually is. The weighted average model year across all 4,163,388 registered trucks sits at 2016, and several major manufacturers post averages older than that: Peterbilt and Mack both average 2015, and GMC-badged commercial trucks average 2011. Against this baseline, the 2022 model year cohort stands out as the largest single-year truck population in the dataset at 293,059 units, surpassing the 2020 cohort of 341,459 and the 2019 cohort of 333,769, which represent the pre-supply-chain-disruption ordering cycle. The dip in the 2021 cohort to 223,540 units, compared to 341,459 for model year 2020, is consistent with widely documented semiconductor shortages and OEM production constraints during that period, though the FMCSA registration data alone cannot confirm that causation. The recovery is visible in the 2022 through 2024 cohorts, which collectively account for over 800,000 trucks. Trailer composition reveals a different kind of divergence: flatbed and tag trailers combined represent roughly 23% of the trailer pool, a share that reflects the weight of construction and industrial freight in the carrier base, while reefer trailers at 434,800 units nearly match flatbed-tag volume at 443,542, suggesting a fleet built to serve both temperature-sensitive and general freight with roughly equivalent depth. Tank trailers carry an average model year of 2012, four years older than dry van at 2016 and five years older than reefer at 2017, which may indicate lower replacement velocity in specialized bulk liquid operations or longer asset useful lives in that segment. Brands that have exited the market, including Sterling with 28,383 units still registered and an average model year of 2005, remain measurable presences in the active fleet, a reminder that FMCSA registration does not equal operational activity. Viewed over a ten-year horizon, the data suggests a fleet that absorbed a large ordering surge in 2018 through 2020, contracted sharply in 2021, recovered through 2022 and 2023, and is now aging at the median faster than recent production additions can offset.