Weakness at the front end of the demand cycle for heavy duty commercial vehicles persisted into August, although underlying fundamentals are healthy. 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. (ACT). The report covers Class 5 through 8 vehicles for the North American market.

“Class 8 orders are likely to continue in hand-to-mouth fashion until there is better clarity about the domestic fiscal policy,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at ACT. “That means that orders will remain soft at least through October, leaving little opportunity for a production rebound into early 2013.” Vieth added that because underlying fundamentals are healthy, as the near-term outlook becomes less opaque, national confidence will improve. This will set the stage for a rebound in commercial vehicle demand.

ACT is the leading publisher of new and used commercial vehicle (CV) industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market, as well as the U.S. tractor-trailer market and the China CV market. ACT’s CV services are used by all major North American truck and trailer manufacturers and their suppliers, and  worldwide banking and investment companies. For more information on ACT, please visit http://www.actresearch.net.