ACT: New and Used Truck Sales, Trailer Orders Slide

MD & HD Orders Better Than Average, but below October
November Class 5 through Class 8 truck orders in North America were better than 2012's average, but fell below Octobers promising level of activity, according to ACT Research Co.

Looking below the surface of Novembers orders, the U.S. and non-NAFTA exports were the two market segments most responsible for the pullback, says Kenny Vieth, ACTs president & senior analyst. In November, Class 8 orders from outside of the NAFTA zone fell to their second lowest level in three years, he added.

Trailer Orders Slide in November

New trailer orders slid back slightly month-over-month in November with 22,306 net orders on the books. The comparison was against a very strong October. This update on industry performance was reported in the latest State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers published by ACT Research Co.

"November also saw a 15% decline month over month in production," said Frank Maly, Director-CV Transportation with ACT Research. "We believe November's build rate is
understated because more holiday days were taken than we projected. However, quotation interest remains solid. Fleets appear to be positioning themselves to move when the time is right," he added.

Used Truck Sales Volumes Struggling in November

Class 8 unit sales sank 16% month-over-month in November. The update on the used market was reported in the latest release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks.

"The good news is that prices in November saw a sharp increase over October and year-over-year," said Steve Tam, vice president-commercial vehicle sector with ACT. "Prices were also able to hang onto positive territory year-to-date. Looking forward to 2013, prices are likely to remain elevated, though growth will be a stretch," he added.

The report from ACT provides data on the average used price for the top-selling Class 8 model for each of the major truck OEM's - Freightliner (Daimler); Kenworth and Peterbilt (Paccar); International (Navistar); and Volvo and Mack (Volvo).