Preliminary North American Class 8 net orders have declined for the fourth consecutive month after reaching a record high in September 2022, according to FTR. Orders fell to 21,600 units in January, down 25% m/m but up 2% y/y. Class 8 orders came in at 303,000 units for the previous 12 months.
With backlogs already solidifying production slots, it is no surprise that orders have fallen off their previous torrential pace. Orders may have declined over the last four months, but they were still higher than year-earlier totals.
Eric Starks, chairman of the board, commented, “Orders remain above replacement demand levels but are below recent production activity. As such, backlogs likely moved slightly lower in January.
“Putting the order numbers into perspective is important. In the first half of 2022, orders averaged just shy of 18,000 units per month. This suggests that recent activity is healthy, and January itself is up 2% year-over-year. This type of activity by fleets indicates that they are not overly concerned about an economic recession and continue to lock in build slots for the second half of 2023.”
