Net orders for heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles fell to 6,513 units in January, down 18 percent from a weak January 2009, according to ACT Research Co. (ACT), a leading independent source of analysis in the market for trucks and other commercial vehicles.
In the latest release of the State of the Industry: Classes 5-8 Vehicles, ACT indicated January net orders were expected to be weak after the last of the pre-EPA2010 mandate build slots were filled in December. North American Class 8 production came in ahead of expectation and just 3 percent below January 2009 as stronger orders late last year are pushed into the production line. Medium-duty Class 5-7 net orders were down 6 percent from January of last year.
"Despite an economic recovery that has begun to take hold, the implementation of the EPA2010 emission mandate has made a difficult situation more challenging," says Kenny Vieth, partner and senior analyst with ACT. "While supply-demand imbalance in the U.S. freight market continues to improve, we are still a quarter or two away from material improvement in freight rates, which should boost used truck demand and valuations."
