July preliminary North America Class 8 net orders were 13,400 units, down 8% month over month and 13% year over year, according to ACT Research. Complete industry data for July, including final order numbers, will be published by in mid-August.

“Class 8 orders remained at directionally and seasonally expected levels in July,” Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst of ACT Research, said. “Historically, July is the worst month of the year for Class 8 orders, so is awarded the biggest seasonal factor, nearly 24% this year. Applying that seasonal factor boosts July’s seasonally adjusted intake to 17,500 units, which results in a narrower 3.7% M/M decline.”

“The headwinds that have been buffeting the US portion of the NA commercial vehicle industry did not diminish through 1H’24 and were arguably a touch worse at the start of the year’s second half,” Vieth said. “Preliminary results of public TL carriers’ Q2 performance are only encouraging in the sense that the nominal results were up from Q1. To this we add surging and record-level inventories, in both the medium- and heavy-duty markets. Given the above, we have been repeatedly surprised to the upside on order activity. As was the case in June, July’s orders were more closely aligned with data-driven expectations.”