The Class 8 market played out as expected in June, with orders just under 20,300 units, while Classes 5-7 posted 15,500 net orders, according to ACT Research Co. (ACT).
Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst, noted that, after a stumble at the start of the year, a modest economic rebound was seen in the April-June timeframe and that the Class 8 market is playing out largely as anticipated.
He added, “With the backlog filling early in 2015, Class 8 production and sales metrics continued to gain momentum in June, growing 19% and 17% YTD, respectively.” According to Vieth, “Based on ACT’s expectations for orders and build over the next three months, backlogs will continue to fall before reversing course in October.”
Concerning medium duty, Vieth said, “June’s soft, worst-since-last-June net orders need to be put in some context: In the preceding nine months, MD orders averaged 19,800 units/mo. Impacting orders, 10% of the Classes 6-7 market is out of commission for several months as a factory is moved.”