Downward truck sales trend reversed

NASHVILLE, Ind. — August Class 8 truck total net orders for all major North American OEM’s rose by 11 percent, to 20,513, over July.

Despite the modest improvement, reports FTR Associates, the numbers were still down at levels not seen since October 2010.

Still, the pace of orders earlier this year remains so strong that annualized class 8 orders for the six-month period including August stands at 299,600 units — a significant improvement from a year ago.

"Although August numbers weren’t spectacular, the fact that they reversed the downward trend we had seen over the past three months gave us an indication that fleet buyers are still in the market for new vehicles," said Eric Starks, president of FTR.

"We were worried that orders might fall given the uncertainty in the economy. The current level of activity makes me breath a bit easier and suggests that fleets were not spooked into delaying orders."

Going forward, orders will mainly be for 2012 builds since manufacturers’ order boards are basically full for the remainder of this year, says Starks.

"Builders will not be taking any heroic measures to increase current production rates given the high level of uncertainty in the economy. Despite current weakness we are cautiously optimistic that these build rates will be supportable into 2012. However, if the economy turns sour in a big way, that certainly could change the dynamic and we are watching that closely."