Prelim data for Sept. shows sluggish Class 8 orders

North America heavy duty GVW Class 8 commercial vehicle preliminary net orders for September remain soft, as reported by ACT Research Co. The final numbers, which will be released this month, will approach 15,600 units for heavy duty Class 8 trucks and 14,000 for medium duty Classes 5-7 vehicles. The preliminary net order numbers are typically accurate to within 5 percent of actual.

“Seasonally adjusted, Class 8 net orders were 17,900 units and Classes 5-7 net orders were 13,000 units. Continued weakness in Class 8 demand is in line with a wide swath of data that indicates a pullback in business investment, both domestic and international, ahead of the potential for bad political decisions at year’s end,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst, ACT Research. “Softness continues to manifest itself in a number of freight related data series.  As the angst will not be resolved until after Election Day, there does not appear to be a near-term trigger for broadly stronger orders. Regarding Classes 5-7, orders continued at consistent levels. September’s volume was within 100 units of August and was the third consecutive month with a positive year-over-year comparison.”