August net orders of heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles were up 15 percent from August 2009, according to ACT Research Co.
In the latest release of the firm’s State of the Industry: Classes 5-8 Vehicles, ACT said that for the three months ended Aug. 31, net orders of Class 8 vehicles totaled 40,033, an increase of 42 percent over the same period of 2009.
“The summer months tend to be seasonally low order months for Class 8 vehicles, but this summer has seen a stabilization of orders at a more material rate compared to the trough of 2009,” said Steve Tam, vice president-commercial vehicle sector. “Net orders were especially strong for the Mexico market, likely due to increased manufacturing and trade. It is possible Mexico is benefiting from some ‘re-shoring’ of manufacturing that previously occurred overseas,” he said.
Medium-duty Classes 5-7 net orders increased by 27 percent in August compared to the prior year.
