North American Class 8 production increased in July, boosted by the continued strength of orders, according to ACT Research.

“After cutting 3,000 units from the Class 8 build plan last month, the OEMs added back nearly 6,000 units in July,” said Steve Tam, ACT Research’s vice president. “This brings the OEMs’ full-year expectations to over 252,000 units.”

Despite a sequentially slower July, build rate in the North American medium-duty market, year-over-year Classes 5-7 production was 15% higher.

“With orders below build, the medium-duty backlog declined to about 54,000 units of unbuilt vehicles,” Tam noted. “Similarly, medium-duty inventories declined as July retail sales outpaced production.”