January’s preliminary Class 8 orders rise

FTR Associates has released preliminary data showing January 2011’s Class 8 truck total net orders for all major North American OEMs at 27,009 units, a modest 1% increase over strong December 2010 activity. This is a marked improvement from the 6,400 units ordered one year earlier and is an increase of 324% from January 2010. Net order activity annualizes to 251,900 units over the past six months, and the prior three months alone at 319,500 Class 8 trucks. The figure includes United States, Canada, Mexico, and exports.

Eric Starks, president of FTR, said, “Orders for January came in above expectations. We had anticipated that they would be close to 25,000 units. The continued strong order activity in January adds more fuel to the recovery in the commercial vehicle equipment sector. With the recent sustained higher levels of order activity, 2011 is shaping up to be a very good year especially relative to where we were in 2009.”

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