According to preliminary data from ACT Research, the industry booked 59,600 North America Classes 5-8 net orders in April. Complete industry data for April, including final order numbers, will be published in mid-May.

After the order results posted in the seasonally strong first quarter, there was only one direction for orders to head in April – down. While below any of the first three months of 2018, a good portion of the decline was related to seasonality.

“On that basis, April’s orders (60k) were bigger than any month in 2017 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 April show that orders rose 40% year-over-year. Seasonally adjusted, April’s orders fell 12% from March.”

Solid MD order activity continued into April, if below levels seen through Q1/18. In April, preliminary NA Classes 5-7 net orders rose 33% year over year to 24,800 units.

“There is virtually no seasonality in April for the MD market. As a result, and while orders were down 16% nominally from March, on a seasonally adjusted basis, Classes 5-7 orders were 24,900 units, up 200 units/0.8% month over month” Vieth said.

About Class 8 orders, Vieth said, “In ACT’s 30-plus years of collecting industry statistics, the Class 8 market has never had four consecutive months in which orders exceeded 40,000 units. Preliminary data indicate that the wall remains in place as 34,800 Class 8 net orders were booked in April, stopping the latest string of 40k-plus order months at three.”

Seasonal adjustment boosts the month’s orders to 35,200 units.