Americas Commercial Trucking (ACT) Research reports that North America heavy-duty GVW Classes 5-7 preliminary net orders for November, 2012, returned to prevailing trend levels, while Class 8 orders fell from October’s “best since January” volume.
The final numbers, which will be released mid-December, will approach 13,900 units for medium-duty Classes 5-7 vehicles and trucks and 20,200 for heavy-duty Class 8. The preliminary net order numbers are typically accurate to within 5% of actual.
“The pullback in medium duty was across all three vehicle types,” says Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst, ACT Research. “With a very low factor, seasonal adjustment boosts orders to 14,100 units. Seasonal adjustment trims November’s Class 8 order volume to 19,000 units.”
Vieth says the low-end of expectations Class 8 order total is likely tied to short-term demand challenges. Those issues include a tax pull forward into Q4, a deferral into Q2 for more fuel efficient MY’14 units, and the fact that dealer inventories are already reasonably making meaningful stock accumulation in Q1 unlikely.
For more information visit http://www.actresearch.net.
