February Class 8 truck total net orders were 22,243 units for all major North American OEMs—an 11% drop from January—according to preliminary data released by FTR Associates.
This was the second consecutive month of negative month-over-month and year-over-year comparisons. February orders annualize to 266,900 units and fall within the average order rate for the past nine months.
“Despite the drop in February, demand for new trucks remains robust as fleets continue to replace aging equipment,” said Jonathan Starks, FTR’s Director of Transportation Analysis. “With the driver supply moderately tight and freight demand healthy, but not surging, fleets are likely to only add limited capacity to their truck fleet. Absent additional freight growth or regulatory hurdles, the new truck market in 2012 is unlikely to see the type of growth that we had in 2011.”
Final data for February will be available from FTR later in the month as part of its North American Commercial Truck & Trailer Outlook service. Contact FTR Associates at [email protected] or 1-888-988-1699 ext. 1 for more details.
Related content: Preliminary Class 8 Orders Down 9% in January: FTR