For the month of June, 28,300 new Classes 5-8 vehicle orders were booked, the lowest total in four years. Of those, Class 8 garnered 13,100 orders and for Classes 5-7, 15,200 orders were placed, according to preliminary numbers from ACT Research Co. (Final June numbers will be published in mid-July).
“The pace of commercial vehicle orders slowed in seasonal fashion into the first month of summer,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst. “June’s MD & HD net order total volume was the lowest monthly order total since July 2012. Seasonally adjusted, at 31,500 units, it was the lowest total since September 2012. The pull-back of the past two months follows a three-month stretch from February to April in which medium duty orders were booked at a volume well ahead of demand. Despite increasingly easy year-over-year comparisons, Class 8 vehicle orders continued to lose traction in June with orders slipping to 13,100 units. The last time actual Class 8 orders were this low was Q3 of 2010.”