FTR Reports North American Class 8 Orders Fell in November to 27,500 Units as Few Build Slots Remain Available for 2019

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  FTR reports preliminary North American Class 8 orders for November fell to 27,500, as the market winds down from five consecutive months topping 40,000 units.  November orders were the lowest total this year and the weakest since September 2017.  However, the drop off in order activity was expected, as OEM’s have nearly filled their order boards for 2019.  Backlogs will start to recede, but still remain close to record volumes.  North American Class 8 orders for the past twelve months have now totaled 499,000 units.

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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, “It was expected that orders would fall fairly soon, as the available 2019 slots filled up. A couple of the OEMs that had some open capacity actually had solid order numbers, while the rest appear to be nearly sold out for next year.

“This drop in orders was reasonable considering the huge volumes of the last five months, although 27,500 is not that bad of a number. The freight fundamentals remain strong and we still expect the equipment markets to have a great year in 2019.”

“We do expect cancellations to rise in November. Not as a result of market weakness, but because backlogs are enormous, and fleets will continue to move orders around as needed. This trend is expected to last well into next year. With OEMs filling up the last available build slots, it is possible that orders may drop below 20,000 in December.”
 
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.