September Class 8 vehicle orders rise 37%

September 2010 net orders of heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles were 15,231, up 37% from September 2009, according to ACT Research Co. In the latest release of the State of the Industry: Classes 5-8 Vehicles, ACT further reported that the seasonally adjusted net orders for September were the second-highest monthly total for the past two years.

“Not only was September the second-best order month, the uptick in orders occurred in what is typically a below average month,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst. “Apply September’s seasonal factor, and Class 8 net orders occurred at a nearly 200,000-unit annual rate. This level of orders is a continuation of the steady increase in demand we have seen building since early this year.”

Even as Class 8 orders moved higher, medium-duty Classes 5-7 orders moved in the opposite direction. A fall-off in school bus orders in September was the primary driver of both sequential and year-over-year declines in Classes 5-7 vehicle net orders, down 27% from September 2009. When looking at just the truck portion of the Classes 5-7 market, September net orders were up 17% from a year ago.