ACT Research reported that in February, the performance differences between total vans and all other trailers was striking: net orders for total van trailers were off 32% month over month while all other trailers posted a gain of 31%. This update on industry performance was reported in the latest State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers published by ACT Research.
 
“Backlogs have risen to the highest level during this recovery cycle and the strongest orderboard since August 2006,” reported Frank Maly, Director-CV Transportation with ACT Research. “We expect to see a gradual growth path in production during the next 6 months,” he added. The trailer industry is entering its third year of the recovery cycle.

February Class 8 Truck Orders

In a separate press release, ACT Research reported used Class 8 truck pricing slipped in February, due to softness in the retail segment of the market. The update on the used market was reported in the latest release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks, published by ACT Research.
 
“Our expectations for longer term pricing remain unchanged,” reported Steve Tam, vice president-commercial vehicle sector with ACT. “Prices will not necessarily fall in the long term, but their growth rate will slow. This projection is based on the assumption the availability of inventory will take the pressure off pricing as more new trucks are purchased and trade-ins ultimately become available as used trucks,” he added.

The report from ACT provides data on the average used price for the top-selling Class 8 model for each of the major truck OEM’s – Freightliner (Daimler); Kenworth and Peterbilt (Paccar); International (Navistar); and Volvo and Mack (Volvo).