ACT Research’s latest outlook revealed greater-than-expected build rates in November (the latest available data), which continued to apply upward pressure to forecasts, resulting in an across-the-board rise in commercial vehicle demand expectations.

“If you don’t work in a consumer-facing economic sector, there is much to like about the current U.S. economic outlook. In a nutshell, the sectors that are propelling the economy forward are those with the greatest contribution to freight, and many of those sectors are just starting to ramp into multi-year growth cycles,” Tim Denoyer, vice president and senior analyst at ACT Research, said. “A favorite ACT axiom is, ‘fleets buy equipment when they make money,’ and we think truckers will generate record profits in 2021. That said, the list of known unknown risks has grown longer recently, including the post-holiday rise in COVID cases, a slower-than-expected roll out of the vaccine, supply chain shortages in steel and microchips, and even the peaceful transfer of power.”