In The News

Heavy-duty truck orders continue strong in February

The preliminary numbers for February heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles net orders for North American markets are in, with ACT Research Co. reporting 24,300 units while FTR Associates report 23,998. 

Even though the February 2011 order volume is down 3,000 units from January, it maintains the strength of the NA Class 8 market that has been demonstrated the past four months, and represents an annualized order flow of more than 272,200 units, ACT noted.

“The industry is continuing in 2011 where it left off in 2010,” said Steve Tam, vice president, commercial vehicle sector. “The strength in orders continues to restock industry backlogs and fuel increasing build as the industry moves through the year.”

Class 8 orders continue the positive prior-year comparisons with February 2011 preliminary orders 210 percent up from February 2010, noted FTR’s report.

“FTR has had a very cautious outlook to this point given the unusually high levels of uncertainty in the economy.  Although February orders showed a decline from January, we have become more comfortable with the durability of the economic recovery in general and the outlook for heavy-duty trucks in particular,” said FTR President Eric Starks. “The continuing strong outlook for the industrial sector that provides a disproportionate amount of truck freight demand is a very good sign. As a result, we have recently increased our 2011 projection for Class 8 truck sales by 10 percent.”

ACT publishes new and used commercial vehicle industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market, as well as the China CV market.

FTR Associates has been in transportation forecasting for over 20 years. The company’s U.S. Freight Model collects and analyzes all data likely to impact freight movement and is based on specific characteristics for over 200 commodity groups.  FTR Associates’ forecast reports cover trucking and rail transportation and include demand analysis for commercial vehicle as well as railcar.

Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at [email protected] .

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