THE NUMBER 1 RESOURCE FOR VOCATIONAL TRUCK FLEETS
Class 8 truck orders saw another bump in May but bottlenecks in the supply chain have kept production numbers constrained.
May was another strong month for new Class 8 truck orders as fleets work to keep up with increased demand in a tight capacity environment.
BYD (Build Your Dreams) has delivered a battery-electric 8TT truck to the Port of Oakland. The Class 8 truck was grant-funded by CARB and will be part of a three-year feasibility study to determine whether zero-emission trucks could replace diesel trucks in port operations.
Early reports are showing that heavy-duty truck orders likely dropped as much as 12,000 units from March to April, but despite that being the largest single-month decline since 2011, analysts are still calling the market for Class 8 equipment hot.
More fleets are looking more closely at all their options, from outright ownership to finance leasing to full-service leasing, even opting to own some trucks while leasing others.
Navistar has signed an agreement with TPI Composites to design and develop Class 8 trucks with lighter-weight frame rails and body panels crafted from composite materials.
Preliminary data on heavy and medium duty commercial truck orders shows that the industry has surpassed 70,000 units in March, according to ACT Research.
In 2017 alone, Fleet Advantage placed purchase orders on more than 1,800 new Class 8 Sleepers and Daycabs from various OEMs, valued at more than $225 million.
Kenworth is offering new standard track options for its Paccar proprietary front axle lineup available for Class 8 vocational models.
A recent YouTube video showed footage of a Tesla Semi driving in broad daylight on a highway near Sacramento, Calif., and Tesla founder Elon Musk later confirmed that it had started testing the electric truck.