COLUMBUS, IN – North American heavy and medium-duty truck orders remained stable though the month of June, according to freight forecasters at  ACT Research.

Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst commented: “With seasonal tendencies dampening expectations, North American Class 8 net orders [were] on the high side in June at 26,600 units. That volume marked an improvement of two percent from May and 41 percent compared to year-ago June.”

Vieth added that that seasonal adjustment boosts June’s Class 8 order total to 29,200 units, or 351,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR).

“On that basis,” Vieth continued, “June was the strongest order month since January. Since October, Class 8 orders have been booked at a 318,100-unit SAAR.”

North American truckers ordered 41,300 trucks classes 5-8 in June and 541,900 booked units annually.

Classes 5-7 orders, which posted the highest number of bookings since 2006 in April, slightly slowed in May and June as bookings returned to normal. Net orders did fall nine percent from May and one percent from June 2013 to 14,700, but Vieth said that’s typical for summer months.

“Given that June is typically a soft order month, seasonal adjustment boosts the month’s MD order intake to 15,600 units (187,000 SAAR), representing the weakest seasonally-adjusted order intake since December,” Vieth said. “Over the past six months, Classes 5-7 net orders were booked at a 214,600-unit SAAR. Over the past 12 months, actual orders have totaled 209,600 units.”