This year’s first quarter of truck orders was the second-best ever recorded, ACT Research found. Q1 of 2018 came in second only to Q1 of 2006, which featured a frenzied period of ordering ahead of EPA ’07 regulations. Q1 of 2018 averaged 45,400 units sold per month.

“Like 2006, 2018 has the same economic/freight component, rising carrier profitability component, and also a significant regulatory component that impacted the broader market (if in starkly different ways),” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst. “An evolving differentiator is the driver shortage, which is moving from a conditional to a structural component of the market; and we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the powerful force that was the tax cut.”