In September, the industry reported an all-time best month for heavy vocational truck orders at 20,000 units (NA, NSA), according to the latest release of the North American Commercial Vehicle OUTLOOK by ACT Research. Over the three months ending November, 38,100 orders were booked, which seasonally adjusts to a 146,900-unit annualized rate.
“The big story is healthy tailwinds driving demand in the form of US industrial policy and stimulus plans that had manufacturing and private construction expenditures running at record levels into the end of 2024. Much of the ~$2 trillion in stimulus from CHIPS, IRA, and IIJA put in place in 2021 and 2022 continues to be deployed into the economy, providing good visibility for equipment buyers,” Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst of ACT Research, said. “In addition to well supported end markets and expectations of some additional inventory building, expensive technology-forcing regulations on the horizon give vocational truck buyers not only willingness to get a head start on refreshing their fleet, but clearly, the ability as well. We always caution that one month does not make a trend, but continued strength in orders, following September’s explosion, suggests queuing for EPA’27 and GHG-3 is underway.”
