For the month of October, 47,200 Classes 5-8 vehicle orders were booked, up 14% from September but down 30% compared to the robust net orders in October 2014, according to ACT Research Co. (Note: these numbers are preliminary. Actual numbers will be published in mid-November).

At 25,200 units in October, North American Class 8 net orders fell 45% short of last October’s 46,000 orders. “Remember that October 2014 was the second-best ever Class 8 order month, so the year-over-year comparison was a tough one,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst. “Likewise, the 6,000 unit sequential gain from September to October of this year can be explained by seasonality. When seasonally adjusted, preliminary Class 8 net orders were down 3% from September.”

Classes 5-7 net orders continued to be strong in October. For the month, NA medium duty vehicle net orders were 22,000 units. “Despite tough comparisons, down 1.8% year-over-year and 0.3% month-over-month, both are within the margin of error for preliminary industry data,” said Vieth. Because October is historically the year’s strongest month for medium duty orders, seasonal adjustment lowers October’s net order volume to 19,300 units.