Class 8 booked just over 24,600 net new orders in July, while Classes 5-7 posted 15,900 net orders. These results were published in the latest State of the Industry report, recently released by ACT Research Co. (ACT). The report covers Classes 5 through 8 vehicles for the North American market.

Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst, noted that, at the midway point of Q3, the economy and freight markets are being buffeted by cross-currents, generating mixed signals. He added, “In July, Class 8 orders broke to the high side of expectations for the first time since February, producing seasonally adjusted net orders to 29,600.” According to Vieth, “Helping drive the high-side outcome in July was a large press-release worthy 9,000 unit, multi-year order, but even if this is excluded July’s orders were well ahead of expectations.”

Concerning medium duty, Vieth said, “On balance, the Classes 5-7 market saw orders improve from June to July, with broad-based strength in Classes 6-7 orders (up 7% y/y) offsetting weakness in Class 5 orders, which were down 12% y/y.” He added, “The improvement in Classes 6-7 orders would have been stronger but for a sharp drop in step van orders versus a one-off order last July.”