In North America, Class 8 trucks stayed up in October 2022, with 43,200 units ordered according to data from FTR. The figure is up by 77 percent year over year, but demand is down by 23 percent from September of this year.
FTR states that the orders for trucks indicate that there is “pent-up demand” because of fleets that are struggling to replace old equipment.
With new models coming out and with the old ones assumingly costing more to repair than to replace, companies are demanding new trucks from manufacturers, however, the global chip shortage didn’t make things easy for the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) this year.
“OEMs are now filling build slots well into Q2 and the early part of Q3 2023. Component shortages continue to be a week-to-week issue; however, the overall sentiment from manufacturers is optimistic that improvements will be made in the coming months and throughout the first half of next year. October was the turning point for the Class 8 market. While we face headwinds in the freight market, overall fleet sentiment remains optimistic. While some OEMs have indicated that they have implemented allocation plans for dealers, the retail channel is another segment of the market that has yet to be able to maintain sufficient levels of inventory due to the limited availability of supply. With two extremely strong months of net orders, there is the potential that we see a gradual decrease month over month in net orders as we close out the year.”
ACT Research reported preliminary Class 8 orders of 42,500 units, and Classes 5-7 orders totaling 23,400 vehicles. ACT Research’s Vice President and Senior Analyst, Eric Crawford said that “the strength reflects broader openings in OEM order boards for 2023 and ongoing pent-up demand, against a backdrop of strong carrier profitability and elevated fleet age that are providing to be resilient. We continue to expect a freight recession and an eventual economic recession, mild to medium in magnitude, but OEMs at this point have clear visibility to a strong first half of 2023, barring any unforeseen cataclysmic events."
Meanwhile, for medium trucks, Crawford stated that “MD demand was solid, albeit against somewhat challenging [comparative measures]. Over the past 12 months, the MD market has seen 234,200 orders booked.”
