According to ACT Research’s latest North American Commercial Vehicle OUTLOOK, the question of commercial vehicle demand for 2021 has already been answered, and for the first time ever, this perspective is illuminated by all positive indicators on ACT Research’s Class 8 Tractor Dashboard.

“April’s Tractor Dashboard rose to its maximum value of 15, with all indicators flashing positive. The average reading across the past four months is an unprecedented 13.5 reading,” Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at ACT Research, said. “For the unfamiliar, the dashboard is a collection of 15 forward-looking demand indicators that provide three to six months of forward visibility for orders. The metric is comprised of economic, freight and ACT/industry-specific data series. In April’s greatest-of-all-time print, optimists and pessimists can agree, ‘it doesn’t get any better than this.’

“The order lines on the dashboard graph illustrate the current rollover in the order trend. One will note the drop in the order trend preceding the opening of subsequent years’ orders in each of the last two cycles, with significantly higher orders booked ahead of the second year of the cycle. Given recent historical precedent, and with appropriate caveats in place, we would expect orders to warm starting in June, with a material jump beginning in July.”