Despite the decline, orders were still 85 percent higher than prior-year levels, FTR and ACT Research reported. Also, orders received in the last six months project to an annualized 337,600, significantly above the same period a year ago.
“It was expected that orders would fall off from the almost 40,000-unit demand last month,” said Eric Starks, FTR president. “Order intake during the May-to-September time period typically slows as a majority of fleets generally place their orders for the current year in prior months. May’s decline in orders will have little near-term impact as the OEs already have sufficient orders in hand to fill their current production capacity.”
Steve Tam, ACT vice president-commercial vehicle sector, said, “May represents the seventh consecutive month of orders above the 24,000 unit level, a clear sign of elevated Class 8 demand.”
