December commercial vehicle net orders slightly higher than expected

North America heavy GVW Class 8 commercial vehicle preliminary net orders for December were slightly higher than expected, as reported by ACT Research Co., LLC (ACT). The final numbers, which will be released mid-January, will approach 30,100 units for heavy duty Class 8 trucks and 13,300 for medium Classes 5-7 vehicles. The preliminary net order numbers are typically accurate to within 5 percent of actual.

"This level of order intake was better than anticipated and was more than sufficient to support ACT’s 2012 forecast," said Steve Tam, ACT vice president-commercial vehicle sector. "Even if orders don’t continue to increase sequentially, we have enough of a backlog cushion that our outlook remains solid. Conversely, if orders do continue to increase, it will put upward pressure on the forecast," he added.

ACT is the recognized leading publisher of new and used commercial vehicle (CV) industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market, as well as the China CV market. ACT’s CV services are used by all major North American truck and trailer manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as the banking and investment community. For more information on ACT, please go to our web site at http://www.actresearch.net.