We go a little long in our road trip roundup this week from the NTDA Convention in Tucson, Ariz., talking about the trailer dealer insights we learned from ACT Research's Ken Vieth, the announcement of Stoops Trailers as the winner of our 2025 Trailblazer Award and more. We also touch on the delay of President Trump's heavy-duty truck tariffs to Nov. 1, and what they might do to truck pricing, then cover our exclusive seven-part research feature with ASE's Education Foundation about what young high school and post-secondary vocational students expect from industry during their schooling and when entering the workforce.
Lucas: Hi everyone. Lucas here on the road this week for the TPS Weekly News Roundup. Yep, we're getting ready to head home from Tucson.
It's been a busy week at the NTDA Annual Convention. We had some wonderful business sessions, networking opportunities over the last couple days, and then of course last night we announced the winner of our 2025 Trailblazer Award. That was Stoops Trailers, who was honored over North American Trailer, Vernon Gene’s, Mountain West Utility Trailer and Intermountain Trailer. Five wonderful dealers that were up for that award this year. We really enjoyed profiling all of them over the last couple months. Really thrilled to announce our winner yesterday and just a huge congratulations to the whole team at Stoops and, of course, thank you so much to the team at Procede Software and Hendrickson for sponsoring our award. And thank you to NTDA for allowing us to announce it at this wonderful convention.
Also, coming out of Tucson this week, Ken Vieth with ACT Research gave an update on the trucking economy and then the trailer economy on Wednesday. That was just one of three sessions. There was also a session on business leadership and then there was sort of a panel discussion on the greater economy. Ken spoke about the segments in the trailer space — the drive van, the flatbread, the reefer market — sort of how all three of those markets are sitting currently and what he expects for orders and sales moving forward. Ken was particularly confident about the reefer market. He said it’s as old as it’s ever been and we really have a lot of pent-up demand in the reefer space. So, he is very optimistic that we’ll start seeing that segment turn around here in the next year.
So, on the greater economy, the expectation from ACT Research is we start to see a turnaround in Q2 of next year. I know that’s not what you want to hear. I know you want to hear next Tuesday. Unfortunately, I can’t give you that information, but Ken is hopeful that if we get some tariff stability and some trade stability here in Q4 and into Q1, that business will turn around in the second quarter, in the second half of next year. Specifically with orders and production really exploding in 2027 through 2029. There’s so many people that want to buy trailers and are waiting because they’re waiting for the economy and their business to turn around. So, as soon as that happens and we get back on level footing, we’re going to really see a big uptick in trailer production. I’m confident in that as Kenny is. It’s just when does it start and we’re hopeful it starts next year but, if not, definitely 2027.
A couple other things this week. President Trump delayed his heavy duty truck tariffs from Oct. 1, to Nov. 1. They had gone into effect last week and [we] really didn't know what the rules were because it hadn’t been announced by the White House. We still don’t really know what the rules are. President Trump has said he intends the November tariff to be medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks. So, we know that it’s our entire segment, but exactly what is and isn’t going to be tariffed. What’s USMCA compliant. We’re still waiting for that information. Hopefully we get that quickly.
And then one last thing — I published three parts of a seven-part series I did with the A SE Education Foundation about some surveys they [conduct with] technical students at high school and post-secondary programs about what they really expect from industry as they complete their education and walk into our space. What they expect business owners will do for them, what they expect this industry’s going to be about. So, if you’re trying to recruit young people and you’re struggling, you don’t understand where, where the disconnect is between your business and their expectations, be sure to check those articles out. You can find them on the website. More will be published next week, but we have it downloadable. You can download all seven articles now and read through it, some really wonderful information. Thousands of student technicians are surveyed every year in the ASE Education Foundation survey, so you really get a great idea of what exactly students expect from this career when they enter into it.
So, be sure to check those articles out. If you’re like me, you’re heading home from Tucson today, be safe, have great flights, drive safely. If you’re an avid TPS reader, thank you so much. If you’re not, please sign up for our newsletter, like and subscribe to these videos and we will see you all next week. Thank you so much. Bye.
