In a remarkable streak of consistency, heavy truck orders have varied less than 400 units per month for 2022.
At 21,500 units, North American Class 8 net orders last month also fell inline with the 21,300 truck average established over the previous seven months, according to FTR. March's order volume was up 3% month-over-month and down 47% year-over-year.
While orders have been moving sideways for most of two quarters, ACT Research President and Senior Analyst Kenny Vieth noted that March’s intake for Class 5-8 trucks was the best since October.
Class 8 orders have totaled 300,000 units over the last 12 months, constrained mostly by OEMs booking orders a month at a time due to component and labor shortages, and accepting orders at a level just under current production rates to keep backlogs in check.
The heavy truck backlog currently sits at just less than a year, and orders are expected to hover around 21,000-and-change until OEMs have confidence in improved future supply chain performance, said Don Ake, vice president of commercial vehicles for FTR.
"The March order total reflects a market frozen in place," Ake said. "All the OEMs are evaluating the business environment monthly and only entering enough orders to fill in about a month’s worth of production in the schedule. March’s number indicates that production levels stayed flat."
