Preliminary orders for new trailers met expectations in October reached their highest level in 11 months, upholding expectations for a good, but not great 2020.
The traditional ordering season for new Class 8 trucks opened in October with the highest activity in 11 months. Still, the number of orders placed was the weakest for an October since 2016 — and 51% below October 2018.
With diesel fuel powering 97% of all heavy-duty trucks, it seems silly to predict its industry dominance will end. But don’t tell that to California where the good can be the enemy of the great.
Rush Enterprises Inc., the largest dealer network of commercial vehicles in North America, reported lower earnings and higher sales in the third quarter. But the company warned that a glut of used trucks is causing faster-than-normal depreciation and is hurting sales.
Trailer orders in September were the highest since February, suggesting another strong year of production in 2020.
The impact of a United Auto Workers’ strike at Mack Trucks will nearly double next week when Volvo Trucks North America lays off about 3,000 employees because of a lack of engines and transmissions that come from a Maryland plant the companies share.
Preliminary Class 8 retail sales for September set an all-time record, but large fleet deliveries likely inflated the results that erased the previous record set in December 2006. Meanwhile, the backlog of trucks waiting to be built is falling, which is leading to layoffs..
Preliminary September orders for Class 8 trucks improved over August but remained stagnant as fleets delayed booking new equipment in the face of ongoing trade tensions slowing swaths of the manufacturing economy.
Used truck sales continue to fall but for the first time since January 2018, so are the prices asked for them.
After a record year for orders in 2018, fleets and dealers are holding back on placing many new trailer orders, a situation that analysts say could improve in the fourth quarter.
Preliminary used Class 8 truck sales fell for the 10th consecutive month in August as used trucks hit the market in bigger numbers because of new truck deliveries from record orders placed in the latter half of 2018.
Class 8 truck manufacturers are beginning to pare production as the backlog of record orders from 2018 shrinks and new orders continue to be slow.
Class 8 truck orders fell again in August as fleets stayed on the sidelines while taking delivery of a record number of heavy-duty trucks ordered in 2018.
The engine displacement in Class 8 commercial tractors is expected to drop in coming years as stricter federal emissions standards take effect in the next decade.
The on-again, off-again trade war between the U.S. and China is a great threat to commercial vehicle forecasts, already buffeted by too many trucks and slowing freight growth.
Payback for a record run of new trailer orders last summer continued in July with fewer than 10,000 new orders placed, a dramatic drop from the same month in 2018. Typical during summer months, low orders suggest a possible return to normal order patterns after an overheated second half in 2018.
The rise and fall of interest in natural gas trucks typically depends on the price of oil. Now, the availability of clean energy credits in California and tougher NOx rules expected from the California Air Resources Board are additional reasons for purchase.
July heavy-duty truck orders were the lowest since 2010, more evidence of a trucking sector recession taking hold.
Ryder Systems Inc. posted strong second-quarter revenue but reduced its second-half earnings guidance on weakness in used truck sales and rentals.
The average price of a Class 8 used truck sold in June was $48,800, up 6 percent compared to June 2018, according to the latest report by ACT Research.
