When it comes to commercial vehicle demand, ACT Research has been on the record saying, “It doesn’t get better than this.” Market pessimists might follow up with: Great, so when does it get worse? Here’s Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst, with the answer:
“From the trajectory of our forecast, it is clear that we think the most likely answer is not any time soon.”
According to ACT Research’s recently released Transportation Digest, the mid-year 2021 indicators that ACT tracks for the economy, for freight, and for equipment utilization are about as good as the company, and its veteran analysts with 20 to 40 years in the industry each, have ever seen.
“Near term, volumes will be dictated by OEM and supplier capacity; the market will take as many trucks, tractors, and trailers as the manufacturers can make for this year and deep into next year,” Vieth said. “But even as a theoretical exercise, it’s worthwhile to run through the array of signals to watch for early, actionable signs of a pending change in direction. Those include considerations like the yield curve, commodity prices, stock prices, purchasing managers’ surveys, spot freight rates, and ACT Research’s Class 8 Tractor Dashboard.”
The aforementioned report, which combines proprietary ACT data and analysis from a wide variety of sources, paints a comprehensive picture of trends impacting transportation and commercial vehicle markets. This monthly report is designed as a quick look at transportation insights for use by fleet and trucking executives, reviewing top-level considerations such as for-hire indices, freight, heavy and medium duty segments, the US trailer market, used truck sales information, and an overview of the US macro economy.
Click here for more commercial vehicle market insight from ACT Research.
