Truck Orders Rise 28%

March Total of 11,285 Is Strongest This Year

By Dan Leone, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the April 26 print edition of Transport Topics.

New orders for Class 8 trucks in March rose 28% from a year earlier, the second month in a row they have climbed, as buyers put requests for 11,285 new vehicles on the books, according to ACT Research Co.

Orders last month reached the highest level since December, and the March total was the third-highest in the past 12 months, according to ACT. The Columbus, Ind., company said in its April 19 report that Class 8 orders jumped 3,384 units, or 42.8%, from February’s level.

“This is the time of the year, traditionally, when we start seeing some of the big fleets come into the marketplace and negotiate their deals on the new model year,” said Steve Tam, ACT’s vice president for the commercial vehicle sector. “The strength of that [March] order number makes me wonder if someone hasn’t gotten to those types of agreements yet.”

The three- to four-month turnaround time on a truck order means that these fleets have to book now in order to field new trucks for back-to-school and holiday freight deliveries later in the year, Tam said.

Truck makers declined to comment on negotiations with U.S. buyers.

A Mack Trucks spokesman said only that “quote activity has in-creased,” and that “there are positive signs moving forward.”

Source: Transport Topics April 26, 2010 Edition

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