Demand for commercial vehicles remained healthy in August as 43,100 total NA Classes 5-8 orders were booked, reports ACT Research. Over the course of the past 12 months, NA Classes 5-8 net orders have totaled 531,500 units, an improvement of 20%/90k units compared to the preceding 12-month period.

“At 25,400 units, August marks the third consecutive month of atypically robust orders for Class 8 at a time of the year when orders are usually soft,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst. “This ongoing strength is in line with continued reports of rising freight volumes and healthy freight rate gains for truckers. Seasonal adjustment pushes the month’s order volume to even higher.”

August’s preliminary 17,700 NA Classes 5-7 net orders represented the best medium-duty vehicle order volume since April, said the company.

“That volume represented an improvement of 12% from July, but was also the fourth consecutive miss compared to year-ago volumes, dropping 4% compared to August 2013,” said Vieth.