According to preliminary data from ACT Research, North American Class 8 truck net orders reached 17,300 units in March, down 10,400 units from February and 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. Complete industry data for March, including final order numbers, will be published by ACT Research later this month.

“Nascent improvements in the freight market and select OEMs’ efforts to smooth demand, notwithstanding forced conservatism among a portion of the truck buying populace, capped Class 8 order activity in March,” Steve Tam, vice president and analyst at ACT Research, said. “While we will have to wait for the details of the month’s order volumes, logic suggests waning demand for tractors in the market retrenched in March.”

A very middling seasonal factor, 1.3%, reduced March’s intake to 17,100 units (206,000 SAAR), down 8.6% from February. March marks the first month since May 2023 for seasonally adjusted activity below 20,000 units.