Navistar reduced its backlog of orders for new International heavy-duty trucks at its Chatham, ON plant by 22.3% in one month as vehicle production continued to exceed retail demand, according to SNS sources.

The order board for Class 8 trucks at the plant here stood at 8,999 units as of yesterday, compared to the backlog of 11,581 units recorded last January 18 and sharply lower than an estimated 12,500-13,000 units last January 4.
The plant is producing 130 Class 8 units per day, 9.2% above the facility's rated capacity of 119 units each day. It is unchanged since last October.
The continued backlog reduction comes as the company prepares to furlough as much as 23% of its workforce and cut truck-making activity by an undisclosed margin by the end of this
March due to weak order intake for the vehicles.
Navistar notified employees here last January 3 that it plans to cut production and lay off a maximum of 500 workers. The plant currently employs 2,200 hourly workers.