“The past couple of weeks have seen volatility in equity markets, but key economic and freight data points relating to commercial vehicle demand continue to trend positive,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst. Speaking to the strength in Class 8 order activity, Vieth noted, “Through year-to-date September, net orders have been booked at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 349,000 units, a rate above the 328,000 orders booked in the past 12 months.”
Concerning Classes 5-7 net orders, Vieth said that compared to a year ago, net orders were up 15 percent. “Within this segment of the market, trucks fell 4 percent year over year, but buses rose 156 percent and RVs rose 31 percent year over year,” he said. “With housing activity generally trending sideways in recent months, so too have medium-duty truck orders and backlogs.”
