More than 70,000 Classes 5-8 net orders were booked in March according to preliminary data from ACT Research. Final data will be published later this month.

“For only the fourth time on record and for the second time in Q1/18, medium duty and heavy duty orders combined to exceed 70,000 units in a month, as activity in both the medium and heavy duty vehicle markets remained strong,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst. “Our preliminary look at North American Classes 5-8 net orders for March show that orders rose 55% year-over-year, 11% above February’s order intake.”

March orders capped the best Classes 5-7 order quarter since Q1/06, when the industry was in the throes of EPA 2007 prebuying.

“As March is traditionally the strongest month of the year for MD orders, seasonal adjustment takes a bite out of the month’s intake, dropping the relative volume to 23,100 units,” Vieth said.

About Class 8 orders, Vieth said, “Preliminary data indicate that in March, Class 8 orders more than doubled their year-ago volume, rising to 46,900 units – the third consecutive month in which Class 8 orders came in above 40,000 units. And, all this before the ELD mandate was fully implemented.”