North American Class 8 truck orders dip in January too

The declining trend in the North American Class 8 orders continued as the data for the month of January 2019 was out recently. The industry booked 15,800 units in January, which is down by 26 per cent in December and down by 68 per cent as compared to the orders booked in January 2018.

Earlier, in the month of December 2018 the Class 8 orders were the lowest during the year and the industry booked 21,300 units during the month. The orders fell by 24 per cent as compared to sales booked in November, while on YoY basis, the order book crashed by 43 per cent.

Indian auto and auto ancillary companies like Bharat Forge, Ramkrishna Forgings, Motherson Sumi, GNA Axles largely depend upon the North American Class 8 market for orders. The impact would be gradually seen on the companies’ financials in the upcoming months. Bharat Forge’s 20 per cent revenue comes from North American trucks segment. While Ramkrishna Forgings earns 26 per cent of its total revenue through exports. Whereas Motherson Sumi enjoys a huge market share of 62 per cent for supplying to the US truck makers.

PACCAR Inc which is one of the largest manufacturers of medium and heavy duty commercial vehicles came out with strong earning numbers for the quarter ended December 2018. Its outlook for 2019 is positive and expects fast recovery in the truck segment. However, looking at the macroeconomic factors including the trade war, pressures on the orders for commercial vehicles might continue.