ACT confirms September trailer orders, market softness | Trucks, Parts, Service

ACT Research announced in its State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers report on Thursday that September trailer orders closed at 12,200 units, bringing the total intake for Q3 to 27,000 units.

With 101,600 units ordered year to date, the company says the market is down substantially from the same period last year.

“Build significantly outpaced orders again in September, but this time by only 4,500 units compared to August’s 11,000-unit drop; backlogs contracted 7% sequentially,” says Jennifer McNealy, director, CV market research and publications at ACT Research. “While down month over month, the backlog was dramatically lower (-55%) against 2023’s firmer backdrop.”

[RELATED: September preliminary data shows trailer orders remain low]

McNealy adds September's trailer order activity, “while improved from the last several months,” remains tepid, though anecdotal commentary shows quoting may be increasing.

“In the present environment, the challenge is that while quotation activity is happening, order placement is slow and timing remains one of next year’s biggest ‘wildcards.’ In the meantime, the data continue to tell the story of macro-facing industry segments being particularly hard hit, with OEMs traversing a much more competitive landscape than the past several years,” she says.