New truck orders defying economy

Commercial vehicle orders held up “reasonably well” in August despite all the bad news about the general economy that led to a “meaningful collapse in consumer confidence,” according to Kenny Vieth, president & senior analyst of ACT Research Co. (ACT).

“The events that caused confidence to wane are still in play and are likely to haunt the economy in coming quarters,” said Vieth. However, there was not any perceptible impact on the front-end of the commercial vehicle demand continuum. Medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicle orders rose above expectations during the month and [order] cancellations remained modest,” he added.

Vieth said this updated snapshot of the North America commercial vehicle market was included in the State of the Industry report, recently released by ACT, that covers Class 5 through 8 vehicles for the North American market.