Supply chain weakness hits January Class 8 truck orders

Class 8 truck orders fell in January as manufacturers matched orders to what they could produce while avoiding further swelling of their backlogs.

A lack of visibility into supply chain bottlenecks makes caution the common theme among OEMs. Most are focused on finishing and shipping red-tagged trucks that piled up in inventory in 2021. Demand for new trucks far outstrips supply, a condition unfamiliar to an industry where the opposite is most often true.

Watch now: Recapping 2021 Class 8 truck orders

OEMs took in 21,400 new orders in January, 50% less than the same month a year ago, according to FTR Transportation Intelligence, which said 343,000 bookings have been accepted on a rolling 12-month basis. ACT Research put preliminary orders for Class 8 trucks at 21,300. Orders were down 8% from December but roughly the same over the past four months.

“OEMs are entering orders at the same rate as production,” Don Ake, FTR vice president of commercial vehicles, said in a statement. “Backlogs have tracked in a narrow range for the last 10 months, which is odd in this cyclical industry. Normally, this would indicate a very stable market. In this case, it reflects a market frozen by a weak supply chain.”