Demand for commercial vehicles remained at healthy levels in July as 45,400 total NA Classes 5-8 orders were booked. In the 10 months since the start of stronger orders last October, NA Classes 5-8 net orders have been booked at an average of 45,200 units per month. Annualized, that represents a total Classes 5-8 order volume of 542,400 units.
“In July, historically the weakest month for order volumes, NA Class 8 net orders again rose above expectations to a six-month high 29,900 units,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst. “That volume marked an improvement of 12 percent from June and 70 percent compared to year ago July,” said Vieth. “In addition to a continuation of the ongoing strong order trend, some of the non-seasonal strength in July might be related to the rapidly dwindling supply of available build slots in 2014.”
Concerning medium duty net orders, Vieth said, “July’s preliminary 15,500 NA Classes 5-7 net orders fell almost perfectly between the May and June volumes. The preliminary result is also middle of the road in terms of comparisons: up 3 percent month over month, but down 4 percent compared to year ago levels, making a third consecutive below year-ago reading. Part of the recent occurrence of modest negative year over year comparisons can be chalked up to tough comps: the MD market began to strengthen appreciably starting in April of last year.”
ACT is the recognized leading publisher of new and used commercial vehicle (CV) industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market, as well as 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.
For more information on ACT, please go to our web site at http://www.actresearch.net.
