COLUMBUS, Ind. — The Class 8 market is on the cusp of a significant correction while the medium duty market continues to confound in May, with forward-looking indicators deteriorating and concurrent data suggesting moderate growth.
So says the recent release of ACT Research’s recently released Transportation Digest.
The report, which combines ACT’s proprietary data analysis across a wide variety of industry sources paints a comprehensive picture of trends impacting transportation and commercial vehicle markets, also suggests that the U.S. economy will decelerate from the 2018 tax-cut-boosted vigorous growth of 2.9% to a real GDP forecast average of 2.4% this year and slightly below 2% in 2020.
“There is a gap between the perception that things remain A-OK in the heavy truck business on one hand and the rapid erosion of transportation fundamentals on the other,” said Kenny Viety, ACT’s president and senior analyst. “This is why ACT has been warning subscribers for months about the possibility of a slowdown into the end of 2019.”
Regarding other commercial vehicle segments, medium duty build strengthened sequentially, and sales became less of a drag, even as orders have softened, Vieth said.
“Fortunately for the medium duty, demand is more closely aligned with consumers, and less with manufacturing,” he said.
ACT Research is a publisher of commercial vehicle truck, trailer, and bus industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American and China markets. ACT’s analytical services are used by all major North American truck and trailer manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as banking and investment companies.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
