FTR Reports North American Class 8 Orders Fell Again in December to 21,000 Units

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  FTR reports preliminary North American Class 8 orders for December fell to 21,000 units, the lowest total since August 2017.  December order activity was as expected, with fleets ordering to secure a dwindling number of available build slots in the second half of 2019.  There are few build slots remaining for 2019, so expect orders totals to remain low the next several months. Backlogs will continue to fall but will remain lofty at the beginning of 2019.  Class 8 orders for the past 12 months have now totaled 482,000 units. 

Click here to view the latest release and an interactive graph of the Class 8 Orders >

 Don Ake, FTR vice president of commercial vehicles, commented, “Order rates right now are not that relevant because of the record-breaking totals recorded in June and July last year. Fleets got a jump on ordering to reserve 2019 build slots, so orders had to fall off at some point, and December was the start of it."

“Because orders rates are reduced, they are not currently a good barometer of long-term demand. All the orders are in, the question now is how many of these orders will actually be built? We will have to watch the build rates and retail sales closely for clues about the future strength of the Class 8 market."

Read Don Ake's recent blog post exploring Class 8 Orders: Bottleneck In The Supply Chain Is An Economic Threat > 



About FTR
For more than two decades, FTR has been the thought leader in freight transportation forecasting in North America. The company’s national award-winning forecasters collect and analyze all data likely to impact freight movement, issuing consistently reliable reports for trucking, rail, and intermodal transportation, as well as providing demand analysis for commercial vehicle and railcar. FTR’s forecasting and specially designed reports have resulted in advanced planning and cost-savings for companies throughout the transportation sector.