Commercial vehicle orders soft again in May, ACT reports

The final order numbers, which will be released mid-June, will approach 18,000 units for heavy duty Class 8 trucks.

The Trucker News Services

6/6/2012

COLUMBUS, Ind. — North America medium and heavy duty Classes 5 and 6-7 commercial vehicle preliminary net orders for May were down from April, reported ACT Research Co. LLC. Class 8 numbers, while still soft, were up from actual numbers in April.

The final numbers, which will be released mid-June, will approach 18,000 units for heavy duty Class 8 trucks and 13,100 for medium duty Classes 5-7 vehicles. The preliminary net order numbers are typically accurate to within 5 percent of actual, ACT noted.

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“As has been the case the past two months, the issue appears to center on credit-buying truckers’ confidence in the economy relative to the risk of taking out a sizeable loan,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst, ACT Research. “Highlighting the notion that the recent pullback in orders is a confidence rather than freight related issue, cancellations in recent months have remained at low levels. Beyond confidence, the demand check boxes remain positive, suggesting that the pull-back is temporary.

“Of course, we are approaching the period of the year that is associated with order weakness: July and August are typically the softest order months of the year.”

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.

Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at kevinj@thetrucker.com.

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