At the top line, North American Class 8 net orders totaled 43,256 units in October, a moderation from the July-August records, but 21 percent better than the year-ago mark, according to ACT Research.

“Class 8 net order activity experienced a second consecutive month of ‘moderation’ in October, meaning it was below all-time record highs set in July and August. Demand remains elevated, well above expectations based on replacement and as justified by the current economic and freight growth environment,” said Steve Tam, ACT Research’s Vice President. “Of particular interest this month is the spike in order cancellations, which removed about 10,850 orders from the backlog. As a percentage of the backlog, the more salient metric in our view, the cancellation rate was 3.6 percent.”

Regarding the medium duty markets, Tam said, “Medium duty demand remained a picture of consistency in October, not straying far from trend. Orders retrenched, falling about 800 units from September, but aligned with the past 12 months’ 24,500-unit order average.”

He added, “In further testament to the stability of the medium duty market, build and sales both rose 3 percent sequentially, solidifying their year-to-date gains of 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively.”