September is typically the second weakest order month of the year for Class 8, so modest activity was expected. Class 8 net orders were 19,018 units.

Meanwhile, the medium-duty market was able to mostly offset a sharp pullback in bus orders to net 16,745 units in orders. This updated status of the North America commercial vehicle market was included in the State of the Industry report, recently released by ACT Research Co. The report covers Classes 5 through 8 vehicles for the North American market.

“On top of lower than expected Class 8 orders, cancellations also spiked in September, “ said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst.

“While low historically, they deviated from the recent trend, rising to 2.3% of backlog. October is usually the top cancellation month, suggesting cancellations are likely to be above the recent trend again next month.”