COLUMBUS, IN – Final numbers for November show orders for new big rigs in North America are down dramatically from earlier in the year while the medium duty market continues to see improvements along with the trailer market.

Class 8 booked 16,770 net new orders in November, while Classes 5-7 posted 18,850 net orders, according to commercial vehicle industry data provider ACT Research.

ACT President and Senior Analyst Kenny Vieth says lingering weakness in the industrial economy coupled with strong capacity additions in 2015 have tilted the supply-demand equilibrium, driving broad-based weakness across markets in November and pushing Class 8 net orders to a volume last seen in third quarter of 2012.

“In November, North American net orders were 16,772 units, which translates to 15,200 units on a seasonally-adjusted basis. This is sharply below the prevailing seasonally adjusted order trend of [around} 23,000 units per month that was in place from April to October,” he said. “Despite the weakness that has gathered into year’s end, we expect that the industry will build over 320,000 units in 2015. And while backlogs will be smaller at the end of 2015 versus 2014, that backlog is expected to be the third largest year-ending backlog in a decade.”

In the Class 5-7 market orders increased 7% from the same time a year ago while orders for Class 6-7 vehicles showed a 10% improvement and were responsible for much of November’s medium-duty market gains

“Healthy consumer balance sheets, rising new home construction, improved state and local government budgets, and an absence of overbuying have the medium-duty segment well positioned for continued modest growth in 2016,” Veith said.

Meantime, a separate report from ACT Research shows U.S. trailer net orders in November gained 18% from October and 10% when compared to November 2014 as the total trailer market is on target to post one of its best years in history.

“It can be difficult to fully appreciate the strength of trailer orders in the past two years, with six of the industry’s top ten strongest order months having occurred since October 2014,” said Frank Maly, director of commercial vehicle transportation analysis and research at ACT. “That strength helped generate an order board stretching well into 2016, but it is also a cause for concern, which comes from an apparent commercial vehicle market imbalance.”

The lion’s share of trailer growth came from dry vans, up 47% month-over-month and 33% year-over year.

“Additionally, orders strong enough to generate backlog growth will be the best indication of industry health at year-end,” Maly said. “Large fleets continue to drive the trailer market, while vocational segments continue to be challenged.”