Truck Orders Revised Up

March 25, 2008
Class 8 and Class 5-7 net new orders for February were revised up 1% and 3%, respectively, by A.C.T.

Class 8 and Class 5-7 net new orders for February were revised up 1% and 3%, respectively, by A.C.T.

Class 5-8 builds remain weak (as expected), down 23% year-over-year in February, with weakness being driven by Volvo (down 56% year-over-year), Freightliner (down 40% year-over-year), and Paccar (down 24% year-over-year). Notably, Navistar's Class 5-8 builds were up 4% year-over-year (vs. down 5% year-over-year in January).

Class 8 orders were 16,311, up 19% year-over-year (vs. up 93% year-over-year in January). Seasonally adjusted, February's order intake was roughly 179,000 annualized (vs. A.C.T's current build forecast of 224,810).

"Still, while February orders declined 30% sequentially from January, we continue to believe that Class 8 orders bottomed for the cycle in April 2007 at 10,491," Bear Stearns said. "Class 8 builds declined 31% year-over-year (vs. down 36% year-over-year in January)."

Class 5-7 orders were 24,794, up 98% year-over-year (vs. up 17% year-over-year in January). Class 5-7 builds declined 12% year-over-year (vs. down 17% year-over-year in January).