February preliminary North America Class 8 net orders of 46.2k units increased 156% year over year. Complete industry data for February, including final order numbers, will be published by ACT Research in mid-March.
“With onerous EPA’27 cost increases on the horizon, an aging fleet and growing confidence that the winter run-up in freight rates will remain sticky, Class 8 order strength continued in February. February’s intake represents the eighth best order month in the 530 months ACT Research has been collecting data,” Carter Vieth, research analyst at ACT Research, said. “The higher EPA’27 cost estimates, coupled with an improved carrier profitability outlook, may partly explain February’s high-side surprise, as dealers and large fleets have even greater incentive to find the budget for equipment now rather than later. Arguably, the most important factor to the order turnaround has been the sustained run-up in spot rates that started in late November.”
Regarding medium duty, Vieth added, “Preliminary Classes 5-7 orders rose 6.7% Y/Y to 17,400 units in February. Given last year was the weakest month for February orders since 2013, easy comps rather than meaningful medium-duty improvement seems the likeliest explanation for Y/Y outperformance.”
