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Preliminary North American Class 8 net orders stayed steady in January at 21,400 units. The January total was down 8% m/m and 50% y/y. Class 8 orders have totaled 343,000 units over the last twelve months.
Don Ake commented, “January orders met expectations. As a group, the OEMs are entering orders at the same rate as production. Backlogs have tracked in a narrow range for the last ten months, which is odd in this cyclical industry. Normally, this would indicate a very stable market. In this case, it reflects a market frozen by a weak supply chain."
Preliminary trailer orders for January held firm at 26,300 units, up 1% m/m and down 13% y/y. Trailer orders for the past twelve months totaled 242,000 units.
Don Ake commented, “The commercial trailer industry is remarkably steady right now. Production has basically flatlined for nine months and now January orders are equal to December. The supply chain failures have created one of the most stable environments in the history of the industry. OEMs are not confident about getting more parts and components in the future, so they are not yet booking all the fleet commitments into the backlog."