As anticipated by the preliminary numbers, North American Class 8 orders hit near-record levels in January, reaching 49,100-plus units according to the final numbers from ACT Research. This represented a 121% year-over-year growth, and is the second-best level ever to be hit since truck orders started being tracked, losing out only to March 2006.

According to Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst, drivers of the current order onslaught are broad-based, with supply-side, demand-side, and exogenous factors all contributing to Class 8 order activity.

Regarding the medium-duty markets, Vieth commented, “The medium-duty market experienced a high-side breakout of its own in January, with N.A. net orders rising to their highest level since mid-2006, up 39% year-over-year, and all the month’s strength derived from the truck market.”

He gave several possible explanations for the order strength, including operators ordering in anticipation of a tax windfall and dealers adding inventory in expectation of windfall purchasing.