November Class 8 orders drop

Saltillo Truck OdPreliminary data from two research firms show Class 8 truck total net orders for North America will fall 27 percent from October’s total to about 20,400 units.

FTR Associates said orders were down 22 percent from the same month a year earlier, marking the first decrease in over a year.

“Class 8 orders were very disappointing for November and came in substantially below expectations,” said Eric Starks, FTR president. “November is normally a very good order month as it lies during what is typically the strong order period of the year. What is most troubling about the November number is that it is back down to levels last seen during the summer when we normally see slow order activity.”

“We believe there was a pull-forward of demand in October to counteract the impact
of price increases for the new model year,” said Steve Tam, ACT vice president-commercial vehicle sector. “The underlying fundamentals in the heavy truck market remain healthy.”