Fleet replacement demand remains healthy, but manufacturers’ limited build capacity could dictate truck availability into 2027, experts say.
North American Class 8 truck orders jumped 241% year over year in June, underscoring rising fleet demand.
Strong freight fundamentals, tighter capacity and replacement demand are driving a rebound in heavy-duty truck orders.
Strong February truck orders suggest fleets are ramping up capital spending as freight volumes, rates and regulatory clarity improve.
North American Class 8 truck orders surged in December as fleets released pent-up demand, FTR Transportation Intelligence says.
Imported heavy-duty trucks will face a 25% tariff under Trump’s latest trade action.
The FMCSA recently delayed rulemaking on truck speed limiters, pre-2000 engine ELD mandates and automatic emergency braking systems to 2025.
The overcapacity of on-highway trucks would look worse without underlying support from Mexico and strong vocational demand.
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Class 8 truck orders hit a 14-month high in November, surpassing 40,000 bookings amid a mired freight market.
With 2024 orderboards open, Class 8 truck orders hit their highest level of the year in September and suggest fleet optimism.
Class 8 truck orders crossed a seasonally adjusted 20,000 units in August for the fourth consecutive month.
Proposed rulemaking on automatic emergency braking (AEB) introduced in June by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is getting more pushback from a coalition of state law enforcement officials and brake manufacturers that argue more dialogue is needed before moving forward.
Class 8 truck orders rose in July, but they are still in the summer doldrums and trail replacement demand.
Truckload and multimodal carrier J.B. Hunt told analysts on an earnings call Tuesday that it’s still too early to tell how the 2023 peak season for freight will turn out.
Class 8 orders in June remained muted as manufacturers focused on reducing their backlogs of unbuilt trucks.
May’s Class 8 truck orders rose, but a truer measure of manufacturing health is the industry’s still-elevated backlog-to-build number.
Skimpy orders of Class 8 trucks in April mean little because OEMs have lots of backlogged orders to build and bill.
It has been just over a year since Craig Fuller, CEO and founder of FreightWaves, wrote an article titled “Why I believe a freight recession is imminent,” published March 31, 2022, in which he predicted the U.S. trucking market was heading toward a significant downturn.
Truck manufacturers booked about 19,000 Class 8 truck orders in March, a manageable load that lets them whittle away at backlogs.
