Final North American Class 8 net orders totaled 37.2k units in November, on very strong tractor demand, as published in ACT Research’s latest State of the Industry: NA Classes 5-8 report.

“Given the generationally weak profits experienced by for-hire carriers in 2024, and the relative youth of private fleet, tractor orders of 28.7k units are a high-side surprise,” according to Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst. “While some of this month’s strong orders likely came from post-election optimism in for-hire, we suspect that private fleets worried about future supply chain disruptions continued as the larger driver of tractor demand in November. Vocational truck orders totaled 8.6k units, another historically strong number, suggesting the vocational market is jumping in the queue ahead of EPA’27 and GHG-3.”

Regarding medium duty, Vieth added, “Total Classes 5-7 orders decreased 28% y/y to 17.1k units. Orders have slowed the past three months, and that trend is likely to continue as record-high inventories take some air away from new orders.”

ACT’s State of the Industry: NA Classes 5-8 report provides a monthly look at the current production, sales, and general state of the on-road heavy and medium duty commercial vehicle markets in North America. It differentiates market indicators by Class 5, Classes 6-7 chassis and Class 8 trucks and tractors, detailing measures such as backlog, build, inventory, new orders, cancellations, net orders, and retail sales. Additionally, Class 5 and Classes 6-7 are segmented by trucks, buses, RVs, and step van configurations, while Class 8 is segmented by trucks and tractors with and without sleeper cabs. This report includes a six-month industry build plan, backlog timing analysis, historical data from 1996 to the present in spreadsheet format, and a ready-to-use graph package. A first-look at preliminary net orders is also published in conjunction with this report.