In this week’s roundup we look at new trailer and truck order totals from August, charting where they stack up against historical data and what that means for the market in the months ahead. We also address Monday’s large recalls from Kenworth and Ford, touch on CARB’s continued struggle with solidifying its emission regulations for heavy trucks and tease the Successful Dealer Award Summit that’s upcoming later this month.
Lucas: Hey everybody. Lucas here for a TPS Weekly News Roundup. Today I’m going to start the roundup in the trailer space. Our August preliminary orders came in earlier this week from ACT Research and FTR and they weren’t great. Sort of in line with what we saw in July; slightly better than August 2024. Somewhere in that 7,500- to 9,000-unit range, depending on when the data really shakes out later this month when we get our final order totals. But well below the 10-year average, which is 17,500 units this month. And it shows that 20 months into the trailer order recession, there’s really been no turnaround in sight. There's been no uptick in demand.
Similar situation in the truck order sector. Preliminary orders for August were 13,000 units ACT Research this week amended that total down to around 12,000 units. So, really no pickup in truck order demand. Obviously, we’re in September now so order boards are opening for 2026. September will be a much higher number than August was, undoubtedly, but it’s not going be anywhere close to September 2024 or the fall of 2024. And we really don’t know when things are going turn around there.
Other news this week. Kenworth had a pretty good recall, a pretty good-sized recall, nearly 14,000 units for a dash display failure issue. So Kenworth dealers should be checking that out or Paccar dealers that can support Kenworth repairs. Ford recalled more than a million vehicles, some SUVs, but also light- and [medium]-duty trucks for a camera visibility problem. So, if you’re a Ford dealer or you’re driving a Ford truck to work every day, check out that recall. Make sure it doesn’t affect you.
Additionally, CARB is trying to basically set its litigation and battle over its current regulations with the Federal government and the OEMs to the side and say, ‘As it exists today, can we go back to our pre-2024 regulations for heavy-duty trucks and heavy duty emissions?’ So we have some degree of certainty as to what the emissions are now, what the regulations are now, so that dealers can sell trucks and customers can buy them because right now nobody in the state knows what the rules are. So, California is kind of saying, ‘Can we put our litigation and our battle to the side and go back to the regulations we had before and kind of make that the way the market is today?’ So, we’ll keep an eye on that, see what happens there.
But again, kind of a slow week for news. I think next week we’ll be busier and then in two weeks our Successful Dealer Award Summit. We’re really excited about that. Some really great dealers being profiled in that. And then the NTDA Convention the next week where we’ll announce our Trailblazer Award. So, keep up with those programs. Keep up with TPS. I'm sure we’re going to have a lot more news in the coming weeks.
Have a great weekend. Be sure to like and subscribe these videos so you can keep getting them throughout the fall. I know you’re busy, you can’t see them every weekend, but please like and subscribe and have a great weekend.
Thank you, everybody. Bye.
