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Mar 3, 2010 9:54 AM

Net orders for heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles fell to 6,513 units in January 2010, down 18% from a weak January 2009, according to ACT Research Co.

In the latest release of the State of the Industry: Classes 5-8 Vehicles, ACT indicated January net orders were expected to be weak after the last of the pre-EPA2010 mandate build slots were filled in December. North American Class 8 production came in ahead of expectation and just 3% below January 2009 as stronger orders late in 2009 are pushed into the production line. Medium-duty Class 5-7 net orders were down 6% from January 2009.

“Despite an economic recovery that has begun to take hold, the implementation of the EPA2010 emission mandate has made a difficult situation more challenging,” said Kenny Vieth, partner and senior analyst with ACT. “While supply-demand imbalance in the US freight market continues to improve, we are still a quarter or two away from material improvement in freight rates, which should boost used-truck demand and valuations.”