According to ACT Research, March preliminary North America Class 8 net orders came in at 17,300 units, down 10,400 units from February and down 8.7% from a year ago. The company adds that a very middling seasonal factor, 1.3%, reduces March’s intake to 17,100 units (206,000 SAAR), down 8.6% from February. March marks the first month since May 2023 for seasonally adjusted activity below 20,000 units.

“Nascent improvements in the freight market and select OEMs’ efforts to smooth demand, notwithstanding forced conservatism among a portion of the truck buying populace, capped Class 8 order activity in March,” shared Steve Tam, ACT’s vice president and analyst. “While we will have to wait for the details of the month’s order volumes, logic suggests waning demand for tractors in the market retrenched in March.”