According to ACT Research’s latest State of the Industry: Classes 5-8 Report, June’s Class 8 order broke the string of falling order volumes, with the opening of 2020 order books, garnering a 19% rebound.

While better orders slowed the rapid backlog decline, the situation is temporary, as coming months represent the seasonally weakest order period of the year, suggesting rapid backlog declines should continue in the near-term.

“The industry is currently astride the Class 8 demand inflection,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT Research president and senior analyst. “On one side of the ledger, weak freight volumes and rates will increasingly pressure carrier profits, thereby moderating demand for new equipment. On the other, significant new capacity additions and steadily increasing inventory volumes suggest current build rates are unsustainable.”

Regarding the medium duty markets, Vieth commented, “Medium duty metrics remained in-line with expectations again in June, with most metrics close to their prevailing trends, if displaying some fraying at the edges.”