COLUMBUS, IN – North American truckers ordered 35,226 class 8 trucks and 18,712 class 5-7 trucks in January, according to ACT Research’s State of the Industry Report.

Based on January numbers, Class 8 orders had a seasonally adjusted annual rate exceeding 400,000 units, according to ACT.

Kenny Vieth, ACT president and senior analyst, commented: “To put some context on Class 8 order strength, January marked the fourth consecutive month in which orders were booked above 400,000 units, the eighth consecutive month with orders booked in excess of 345,000 units and the 12th time in the past 13 months that orders have exceeded 300,000 units.”

The  medium-duty truck market  remained strong in January with class 5-7 truck orders posting double-digit gains compared with year-ago levels. This represents the fourth month in a row out of five months that the medium-duty market did so.

“The improvement was broad based with trucks, buses and RVs all posting strong performances,” Vieth said.