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North American Class 8 orders for January are down month over month but up year over year, according to both FTR and ACT Research. Following a consistent trend over the last four months of averages of 19,000 trucks, January totals dropped to 17,700 units. ACT reports show a similar drop in medium-duty.
Class 8 truck orders hit a high point for 2019 in October; however, in what is traditionally a great month for truck orders, that performance marked the weakest level since 2016, according to preliminary reports.
Early reports on Class 8 truck orders for the month of August show a modest increase compared to July, but as manufacturers open up slots for 2020, it seems that fleets are in no hurry to fill them.
Used Class 8 same dealers sales were down 10% in June and prices remained essentially flat, but this used truck dealers say that at current levels, sales and prices are still strong, according to ACT Research.
U.S. and Canadian natural gas Class 8 truck retail sales were down 23% year-to-date through November 2018, according to a quarterly report from ACT Research.
After a banner year in which Class 8 truck orders averaged at least 42,600 units per month, early reports from both ACT Research and FTR show a drop off in activity in November.
Truck production numbers show a trend toward smaller displacement engines and more straight trucks in the truck market, according to ACT Research and Rhein Associates.
Orders for Class 8 trucks moderated from the record-setting levels of this summer, but were still 21% better than a year ago, according to ACT Research, while used-truck sales improved over September. However, cancellations rose.
Despite an overall positive truck sales forecast for 2019, tariffs and trade wars could be stumbling blocks that trip up the economy and send freight and truck sales downward, said two longtime industry analysts.
October Class 8 orders were above 40,000 units for the eighth month in a row, but two different companies reporting the data put rather different spins on their analysis of the numbers.