Preliminary Class 8 truck orders jump again

FTR Associates has reported preliminary net Class 8 truck orders for September jumped 21.6% over August and came in 38.8% higher than September 2009.

With orders for all major North American OEMs at 14,872 units, the six-month period including September annualizes to 163,100 units. The numbers represent orders for the U.S., Canada, Mexico and exports.

“Net orders for September came in about where we expected, and while better than August, aren’t indicative of any significant shift in fleet buying plans that would result in strong growth next year,” said Erik Starks, president of FTR. “We’ll closely watch the next two months because they are typically the strongest in the seasonal cycle. If orders don’t come in at close to 20,000 in October and higher in November, that will be evidence in our view that many fleets will continue to sit on the sidelines until they are more comfortable of a sustained economic recovery.”

Final September data will be available later this month.