Photo of 2016 Ford F-650 courtesy of Ford.

Photo of 2016 Ford F-650 courtesy of Ford.

Orders of medium-duty vehicles logged another healthy month in November and appear ready for "continued modest growth" in 2016, an ACT Research analyst has predicted.

Orders of Classes 5-7 increased 7% to 18,850 for the month compared to a year ago. Classes 6-7 has been pacing the gains with a 10% increase over a year ago, said Kenny Vieth, ACT's president and senior analyst.

"Healthy consumer balance sheets, rising new home construction, improved state and local government budgets, and an absence of overbuying have the medium-duty segment well positioned for continued modest growth in 2016," Vieth said.

Meanwhile, Class 8 orders showed weakness for the month and reached a level not seen since October of 2012. Class 8 orders reached 16,770 units, which is "sharply below the prevailing seasonally adjusted order trend of about 23,000 units per month that was in place from April to October," Vieth said.

However, Class 8 manufacturers should build more than 320,000 units in 2015, which would be the third highest year in a decade.

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