Trucks orders up; but speed bumps ahead?

NASHVILLE, Ind. — Heavy truck orders continue their significant gains over 2009, but a leading industry forecaster also cautions that there are emerging risks to domestic U.S. recovery.

In its June Commercial Truck and Trailer Outlook, FTR Associates warns that Europe’s continued economic challenges along with the recent U.S. stock market decline and high U.S. unemployment could pose real risks to economy.

As a result, FTR’s vehicle forecasts for 2010 remain conservative with only slight increases for projected annual Class 8 demand.

"We did raise our forecast marginally to reflect the current order activity," says Eric Starks, President of FTR, "however, we do continue to be conservative because we look at a big picture which tells us that there are real risks to too much optimism."

Nonetheless, preliminary data for June showed a whopping 90-percent increase in total North American class 8 truck net orders over the same month in 2009.

June orders of 15,667 units were also 20.5 percent higher than in May 2010.

"The increase in order activity is a welcome sign that the recovery for the commercial vehicle industry remains on track," said Starks.