According to ACT Research, reported volumes of used Class 3 to 8 truck sales “reversed their slide into negative territory in December.” All three segments - auction, retail and wholesale - saw improvement relative to November. But all three segments continued to lag on a year-over-year (YoY) basis.
However, ACT’s take on the commercial trailer sector is much brighter, declaring it “ended 2011 on solid footing and is well positioned for the third year of growth in the current cyclical recovery.” Net orders for total trailers grew 38% YoY, while the build rate jumped 69%.
“Following some mid-year sponginess, the trailer industry ended 2011 on a particularly strong note,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at ACT. “Orders in December were a virtual duplication of November’s five-year high, backlogs rose to their highest level this cycle, and cancellations were virtually non-existent. Rising backlogs and low levels of cancellation activity speak to the strength of demand at the start of 2012,” he added.
ACT’s update on industry performance was reported in its latest State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers, published on January 25th.
Turning to used trucks, Steve Tam, vice president-commercial vehicle sector with ACT, said the industry “continues to look to improving new truck sales to provide some much needed relief for the used truck inventory shortage. Concerning pricing, our expectation remains unchanged. We believe YoY pricing growth will continue to slow. Prices will not necessarily fall, but just grow at a slower rate,” he added.
The update on the used market was reported in the latest release of ACT’s State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks. This report provides data on the average used price for the top-selling Class 8 model for each of the major truck OEMs – Freightliner (Daimler); Kenworth and Peterbilt (Paccar); International (Navistar); and Volvo and Mack (Volvo). For subscription information to the full report, go to http://www.actresearch.net
