Little change in 2010 slow sales forecast for heavy trucks
NASHVILLE, Ind. — North American class 8 demand is still expected to rise ever-so-slowly heading into 2011 — just 3 percent over 2009, forecasts truck market research firm, FTR Associates.
FTR’s March North American Commercial Truck and Trailer Outlook Report projects that this will be followed by considerably more significant improvement of over 50 percent in 2011.
Although the overall economic environment is improving, there are still negative conditions such as soft consumer spending and weak housing demand that continue to point to a very slow recovery.
"New truck demand will be further hurt by the continuing large overhang in underutilized and idle trucks as well as the new EPA mandated engine technology," says FTR’s president Eric Starks.
"Our forecast from February 2009 — 13 turbulent months ago – is being confirmed by current market conditions and remains unchanged.
"Everyone in the industry would have been glad to see improvement in demand before now, but our forecast models showed us that wasn’t likely until 2011."
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