The Class 8 market continued to experience “weak” orders and falling backlogs in July, according to the updated status of the North American commercial vehicle market that was included in the State of the Industry report released by ACT Research Co. (ACT).
Build rates exceeded the pace of incoming orders again in July. Classes 5-7 continued to be a model of consistency with orders in line with build and steady, if low, backlogs.
“Concerning the heavy-duty market, we view the unusual pairing of weak orders and low cancellations as a reflection of today’s bifurcated truck market,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at ACT, “To that end, we believe confidence is at a key component of the order pullback across a large swath of carriers.”