Preliminary April Class 8 net orders see declines

Preliminary April North American Class 8 new truck orders trended down, according data respectively published by freight transportation consultancy FTR and ACT Research, a provider of data and analysis for trucks and other commercial vehicles.  

FTR reported that April preliminary March North American Class 8 net orders—at 15,400 units—were down 28% compared to March and saw a 56% annual decrease. FTR said that this represents the largest month-over-month change in 2022, with April coming in at a total 5,900 units less than the average of 21,300 over the past seven months, with Class 8 orders totaling 280,000 units over the last 12 months.

FTR said that with “backlogs largely full for the year,” OEM’s have yet to open their order boards for 2023.  What’s more, it added that given all the unknowns faced in today’s business environment OEMs are carefully monitoring their backlogs and continuing to evaluate monthly how far into the future they are willing to push them.  

“April’s order total does not accurately reflect the current demand for new trucks, it does however reflect a market that is trying to minimize its exposure to the headwinds it could potentially face in 2023,” said Charles Roth, analyst-commercial vehicles for FTR, in a statement. “As production continues to be significantly impacted by supply chain disruptions, component shortages, labor shortages, and increased material costs, the hesitancy to open 2023 order boards stems from not being able to guarantee pricing given the current environment. Once supply chain issues improve, OEMs will be able to substantially increase orders. But until then, conditions remain stagnant.”

ACT reported that preliminary April North American Class 8 net orders came in at 15,800 units, trailing the preliminary March North American Class 8 orders, at 21,300 units.

“With Class 8 backlogs stretching through 2022 and still no clear visibility about the easing of the everything shortage, April’s net orders reflect the ongoing conservative approach by OEMs looking to limit the risk of overbooking and underbuilding that plagued the industry in 2021,” said Eric Crawford, ACT’s Vice President and Senior Analyst, in a statement.