According to ACT Research Co. (ACT), in February net orders for total van trailers were off 32% month over month while all other trailer types posted a gain of 31%. This update was reported in ACT’s latest State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers.
“Backlogs have risen to the highest level during this recovery cycle and the strongest [trailer] order board since August 2006,” related Frank Maly, ACT’s director-- CV Transportation.
“We expect to see a gradual growth path in [trailer] production during the next six months,” he added. “The trailer industry is entering its third year of the recovery cycle.”
ACT also reported that used Class 8 truck pricing slipped in February, due to softness in the retail segment of the market. The update on the used market was reported in the latest release of ACT’s State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks.
“Our expectations for longer-term pricing remain unchanged,” stated Steve Tam, ACT’s vice president-- CV sector. “Prices will not necessarily fall in the long term, but their growth rate will slow.
“This projection,” he explained, “is based on the assumption that the availability of inventory will take the pressure off pricing as more new trucks are purchased and trade-ins ultimately become available as used trucks.
The used-truck report from ACT provides data on the average used price for the top-selling Class 8 model for each of the major truck OEMs: Freightliner (Daimler); Kenworth and Peterbilt (Paccar); International (Navistar); and Volvo and Mack (Volvo). For subscription information to the full report, click here.
ACT is a worldwide publisher of new and used commercial vehicle (CV) industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market as well as the U.S. tractor-trailer market and the China CV market. ACT’s CV services are used by all major North American truck and trailer manufacturers and their suppliers as well as the banking and investment community.
