Preliminary Class 8 truck orders totaled just 6,700 in May as heavy-duty truck manufacturers kept production suspensions in place while helping reduce an overhang of trucks in dealer inventories.
The inventory-to-sales ratio remained more than 50% higher than desired levels even as dealer stocks fell by 11,900 trucks, Kenny Vieth, ACT Research president and senior analyst, told FreightWaves.
“Restarting the manufacturing sector from a full stop was only partly successful, as Mexico’s lockdowns remained in effect well after the U.S. began to reopen, resulting in challenging supply-chain dynamics and fragmented supplier sourcing,” Vieth said
The interruptions caused Daimler Trucks North America, the industry’s leading manufacturer, to delay the full reopening of its U.S. and Mexico plants from mid-May until this week.
