FTR reports preliminary North American Class 8 net orders decline to 28,300 units in December

FTR reports preliminary North American Class 8 net orders for December fell for the third consecutive month to 28,300 units. Class 8 orders are quickly moderating with a fall of 21% m/m; however, they compare favorably y/y at 25% higher. Orders for the past 12 months total 302,000 units.

There has likely been some end-of-year cleanup of the order boards as OEMs look to firm up their production schedules. Orders are now in line with sales and production levels, so any further reductions in incoming orders will start to eat into backlogs.

Jonathan Starks, FTR’s chief executive officer and chief intelligence officer, commented “Backlogs are still elevated but not at such a level that they can sustain significant deterioration without impacting production output. Despite these concerns, essentially all the production slots for the first half of the year are full and the second half of the year is starting to fill up as well.

“The heavy vehicle market remains strong despite economic and financial uncertainties, and production will still be limited to some extent by supply chains and labor.”

Preliminary orders may be estimated and are subject to revision when FTR releases final data mid-month as part of its North American Commercial Truck & Trailer Outlook service.