Preliminary April Class 8 truck net orders were 23,026, 6% above March numbers and 37% above April 2012, according to FTR Associates.
Orders for Class 8 trucks have now been above 20,000 for five consecutive months. Even with the one month dip in March orders, the last three months annualize to 270,400 units. Preliminary order numbers are for all major North American OEMs.
"Orders continue to remain at a healthy level, coming in at the high end of our expectations,” said Jonathan Starks, FTR’s director of transportation analysis. “This bodes well for a continuation of the modest growth in equipment sales during 2013. Despite this, our optimism is tempered by the weakness seen in much of the economic data over the last month and by our discussions with fleets. There is no desire to add equipment in the near-term and merely replacing equipment doesn't create additional equipment demand beyond our current expectations."
Final data for April will be available from FTR later in the month as part of its North American Commercial Truck & Trailer Outlook service. Contact FTR Associates at ftr@ftrassociates.com or 1-888-988-1699 ext 1 for more details.