After rising to their third highest net order volume of the year in October, Class 8 orders fell below trend in November, falling to their second lowest volume in 2011.

Class 8 new and net orders totaled 24,354 and 20,603 units, respectively. Despite the decline, the demand situation remains favorable. This updated status of the North America commercial vehicle market was included in the State of the Industry report, recently released by ACT Research Co. (ACT). The report covers Class 5 through 8 vehicles for the North American market.

“We believe special factors, such as the near selling out of remaining 2011 build slots in October and cancellations in export orders in November, were responsible for the boost in order activity in October and the fall-off in order activity in November,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at ACT. Our suggestion is to look at October and November in aggregate. Doing so generates average monthly net orders of 24,400 units,” he added.