The Class 8 truck market continued to experience weak orders and falling backlogs. Build rates exceeded the pace of incoming orders again in July. Classes 5-7 continued to be a model of consistency with orders in line with build and steady, if low, backlogs.
This updated status of the North America commercial vehicle market was included in the State of the Industry report, recently released by ACT Research Co. (ACT). The report covers Class 5 through 8 vehicles for the North American market.
“Concerning the heavy-duty market, we view the unusual pairing of weak orders and low cancellations as a reflection of today’s bifurcated truck market,” says Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at ACT. “To that end, we believe confidence is at a key component of the order pullback across a large swath of carriers.”