Sales of new motorcoaches in the U.S. and Canada fell to their lowest level of the decade last year, the result of reduced coach buying that began in the fourth quarter of 2008 and continued throughout 2009.

Still, the severity of the sales slump was less pronounced during the final quarter of last year when new-coach purchases were roughly 8 percent lower than the fourth quarter of 08.

The four previous quarters saw sales declines of 15, 17, 29 and 23 percent.

A total of 1,654 new over-the-road buses were sold in 2009, down from 2,017 in 2008, and 2,173 in 2007, according to figures compiled by National Bus Trader magazine.

In 2006, 2,381 new coaches were sold; in 2005, new-coach deliveries totaled 2,058, and in 2004, sales fell to 1,668 new coaches, or 14 more than last year.

But, as National Bus Trader Editor Larry Plachno noted, there was a trend throughout 2009 of an amelioration of the rate of sales decline.

In the final three months of 2009, new-coach deliveries totaled 418 units. That compares to final-quarter 2008 sales of 456 coaches and fourth-quarter 2007 sales of 591 new coaches. The decades best fourth quarter was in 2006 when 760 new coaches were sold.

The sales picture for the final quarter of last year was very much a mixed bag.

Conversion shell sales remained at a historically low level but were up slightly from the three previous quarters.

Sales into Canada, which had been fairly strong throughout most the year as a result of buying by Greyhound, Coach Canada and others, declined substantially in the fourth quarter.

Public-sector sales in the fourth quarter also were down slightly from the year-earlier period.

That means, according to Plachnos analysis, purchases by private operators in the U.S. kept fourth-quarter sales from sinking as much as they had earlier in the year.

The fourth quarter is traditionally the best quarter of the year for new-coach sales, as private operators act to take advantage of tax incentives if theyve had a decent year financially. While many operators did poorly last year, reducing their new-coach buying, others fared better and acquired new coaches. There also appears to have been a modest acceleration of buying to grab the last of the coaches with 2009 engines.

Later this year, 2010-model coaches outfitted with new-generation, reduced-emission engines will begin rolling off assembly lines. How they will be received is an open question.

The three best-selling models in the fourth quarter of last year represented a market share of 48.3 percent, which was unusually low. Typically, the three most-popular models account for a market percentage in the mid-50s.

"This might tend to indicate a little more diversity in model selection," said Plachno.

The three-best selling coaches in the fourth quarter were the MCI J4500, the Prevost H3-45 and the MCI D4505.

The other coaches on Plachnos "hit parade" of the seven most-popular seated models were the Setra S 417, MCI D4500, Van Hool C2045 and the Van Hool TD925.

Plachno pointed out that eight specific coach models posted higher sales in last years fourth quarter than in the final three months of 2008.

Sales of imported coaches Setras, Temsas and Van Hools captured just over 25 percent of the market in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest percentage since the third quarter of 2008.

More than 96 percent of the coaches sold were 45-footers, with 2.2 percent either 40 or 41 feet, and seven (1.7 percent) were 35-foot Temsas.

Sales into Canada dropped to 4.8 percent of the total. That was down from 20 percent in the third quarter of last year and 17 percent in the second period. Typically, around 10 percent of new-coach purchases are by Canadians.

Auto-stick transmissions went into 16.3 percent of the coaches delivered in the fourth quarter, down from 24.5, 23.8 and 20 percent in the three previous quarters.

Plachno will have a complete report on 09 sales in a future issue of National Bus Trader. Contact him at lplachno@busmag.com.