According to ACT Research, trailer net orders in September reached nearly 36,000 units, a roughly 47% increase from August’s pace and a 12% boost on a year-over-year basis.

“While September’s early kick-off to the fall/winter order season was not particularly surprising, the volumes in dry vans and refers were a bit more robust than anticipated, up 46% and 45%, respectively,” said Frank Maly, director of CV Transportation analysis and research at ACT. “Despite the solid start to the order season, the commercial vehicle segment news is not entirely positive. Tractor volumes have shown weakness, and the softness appears to come from high dealer inventory levels and fleet resistance to extend investment in the current soft freight market.”

Maly also noted that for the remainder of 2015, year-over-year comps will be challenging.

“A better measure of the industry will be backlogs, where growth will indicate order flow above the current build rates,” said Maly.