ACT sees more vocational demand in 2025

A dump truck with the bed raised

ACT Research says last year ended with a bang for vocational truck orders, and this year is shaping up to be strong as well. 

[RELATED: Class 8 orders indicate strong demand for November]

"The big story is healthy tailwinds driving demand in the form of U.S. industrial policy and stimulus plans that had manufacturing and private construction expenditures running at record levels into the end of 2024," says Kenny Vieth, ACT's president and senior analyst. "Much of the ~$2 trillion in stimulus from CHIPS, IRA and IIJA put in place in 2021 and 2022 continues to be deployed into the economy, providing good visibility for equipment buyers." 

September was the all-time best month for heavy vocational truck orders with 20,000 units, ACT says, and over the three months ending in November, 38,100 orders were booked. That adjusts for a 146,900-unit annualized rate, says the North American Commercial Vehicle Outlook

"In addition to well-supported end markets and expectations of some additional inventory building, expensive technology-forcing regulations on the horizon give vocational truck buyers not only willingness to get a head start on refreshing their fleet, but clearly, the ability as well," Vieth says. "We always caution that one month does not make a trend, but continued strength in orders, following September's explosion, suggests queuing for EPA '27 and GHG 3 is underway." 

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