October Preliminary Class 8 Orders Impacted by Long-Term Order Cleanup: FTR

Nov. 4, 2016
Preliminary Class 8 net orders for October were 13,800 units, according to FTR.  The reported net order number for the month was negatively impacted by a significant cleanup of long-term, excess orders by one OEM.

Preliminary Class 8 net orders for October were 13,800 units, according to FTR.  The reported net order number for the month was negatively impacted by a significant cleanup of long-term, excess orders by one OEM.

With this backlog adjustment factored out, net orders would have been closer to approximately 21,300 units, much above industry expectations and would have been the best monthly order activity since December 2015.  The reported 13,800-unit net number was similar to September totals and brings the past 12 months of orders to 188,000 units.
 
Don Ake, Vice President of Commercial Vehicles at FTR, commented, “The adjusted number of 21,300 was fueled by the big fleets placing their requirement orders for the first half of 2017. This indicates the freight markets are stabilizing and the fleets are confident enough to replace older trucks.
 
“FTR expects medium-sized and smaller fleets to wait until after the election to place most of their initial 2017 orders.  Once that uncertainty has been lifted, it should help the equipment markets and the general economy.  Monthly orders will likely hover around the 20,000 unit mark in November and December.”
 
Final data for October will be available from FTR later in the month as part of its North American Commercial Truck & Trailer Outlook service. To contact FTR, send an email to [email protected] or call (888) 988-1699 ext. 1.