May 16, 2012 10:16 AM

North America medium- and heavy-duty GVW Classes 6-7 and Class 8 commercial vehicle preliminary net orders for April 2012 were down from March as reported by ACT Research Co LLC.

The final numbers, which will be released mid-May, will approach 17,200 units for heavy-duty Class 8 trucks and 8,600 for medium-duty Classes 6-7 vehicles. The preliminary net order numbers are typically accurate to within 5% of actual.

“Orders continued to come in below the level ultimately needed to sustain current rates of build,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst, ACT. “Conditions that contributed to the soft patch that started in March were still in play in April, including higher diesel and new truck prices. Beyond that, the data that we use to predict demand remain healthy: The overall economy, and in particular the manufacturing sector, continues to grow, trucker profits are healthy, and used-truck prices remain close to record levels.”