North American Truck Orders Surge in October

Orders for Class 8 semi-trucks in North America grew more than twice their amount in October compared to the same period last year.

According to an analysis made by FTR – a company that tracks the industry – announced on Thursday that preliminary truck orders for October reached 35,700, rising significantly from 13,674 in October of 2016. They also said that strong order should continue to boost truck production into 2018.

“The market continues to follow our expectations and highlights that the market fundamentals remain solid as we approach 2018,” said FTR’s Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Starks.

FTR disclosed that the October truck growth was not evenly distributed among all truck manufacturers.

Truck orders fell in 2017 as truck companies worried over the state of the economy while also having high inventory levels. But October is the fifth consecutive month wherein truck orders have been seeing continues rise.

Most of the U.S. cargos are towed down the country’s highways by the Class 8 semi-trucks.

Truck orders in 2018 is expected to grow consistently pushed by a federal mandate that will make truck firms switch to electronic logs (ELDs) from paper logs by next month. According to experts, they expect the smaller truck firms that fudge the books in order for them to stay profitable in a low-margin industry will close down, leaving larger companies to benefit and drive up demand for new vehicles.

The main truck makers in the U.S. market are Daimler AG, Navistar International Corp., PACCAR Inc., and Volvo AB.

Daimler Announces its Own Electric Truck

One of the biggest truck manufacturer in the U.S., Daimler AG, decided to show off their own battery-powered heavy-duty truck mere weeks before Tesla Inc.’s, the California electric-carmaker’s,  own unveiling.

The timely unveiling made by Daimler signals the growing rivalry between the two companies.

According to Daimler, their E-Fuso Vision One prototype will be able to load 11 tons of cargo while travelling to as far as 220 miles before needing to recharge. The world’s largest maker of commercial vehicles added in its statement that the truck could be on sale within four years in Europe, Japan, and U.S. The truck will also be geared to shorter intra-city trips.

The truck was made to be part of the plans prepared by Daimler’s Fuso brand of adding electric and hybrid options across its range of trucks and buses.

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