ACT Research (ACT) has reported that “demand for commercial vehicles remained healthy in August” as 43,100 total North American Class 5 to 8 truck orders were booked.
The research firm also pointed out that over the past 12 months, Class 5 to 8 (North American) net orders totaled 531,500 units. That performance represents a gain of 90,000 units, amounting to a 20% improvement compared to the preceding 12-month period.
“At 25,400 units, August marks the third consecutive month of atypically robust orders for Class 8 at a time of the year when orders are usually soft,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT president & senior analyst.
“This ongoing strength is in line with continued reports of rising freight volumes and healthy freight rate gains for truckers,” he continued. “Seasonal adjustment pushes the month’s order volume even higher.”
ACT also found that August’s preliminary 17,700 Classes 5 to 7 (North American) net orders marked the best medium-duty order volume since April.
“That volume represented an improvement of 12% from July, but was also the fourth consecutive miss compared to year-ago volumes, dropping 4% compared to August 2013,” noted Vieth.
Research firm FTR also reported strong net Class 8 orders for last month, stating that they came in at 24,947 units, to mark a year-over-year increase of 29%.
ACT Research publishes new and used commercial vehicle (CV) industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market as well as for China CV market.
