As expected, net orders for heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles fell sharply to 10,550 units in November, down 50 percent from an October order volume that was inflated by an upcoming EPA emissions mandate,
according to ACT Research.

In the latest release of ACT's State of the Industry: Classes 5-8 Vehicles, the commercial vehicle market analysts indicated that if you disregard October numbers, November Class 8 net orders were consistent with the past six months, and down 7 percent year-over-year. Medium-duty Classes 5-7 net orders were also down following a surge in October, but were up 40 percent from November of 2008.

"October's surge in heavy-duty truck orders had little staying power, as the strong orders filled most of the remaining pre-EPA2010 emission mandate build slots," said Kenny Vieth, partner and senior analyst with ACT. "Medium-duty orders, while down from October, continued to be relatively strong. We assume much of the strength in the medium-duty segment is related to body-builders booking pre-mandate chassis so that they will have more cheaply priced units to sell through 2010."