Preliminary February Class 8 truck net orders saw significant gains, according to data respectively issued this week by FTR and ACT Research.
FTR reported that February preliminary orders, at 47,200 units, rose 47%, from January to February, and posted a 159% annual gain, marking the highest monthly tally since September 2022. What’s more, the firm said that February marks the third straight month that orders topped the 20% annual growth mark, while adding that February was well above the 10-year February average of 24,991 units. For the 12-month period through February, FTR said that Class 8 orders came in at 258,466 units.
“February’s very solid annual increase in net orders extended the firmer tone that has been building since late last year,” said Dan Moyer, senior analyst, commercial vehicles, at FTR. “While a portion of demand still reflects previously deferred replacement purchases reentering the market, the consistency and breadth of recent order activity suggest momentum is now being driven more meaningfully by improving freight fundamentals. Freight volumes and utilization are trending higher, and FTR’s rate forecasts have strengthened. Also, improved clarity around tariff-adjusted pricing and EPA 2027 NOx regulations is reducing policy-related hesitation and giving fleets greater confidence to advance capital plans. Order patterns increasingly suggest a structured replacement cycle and forward-looking fleet planning rather than short-term catch-up buying, underscoring healthier underlying demand.”
FTR added that the 2026 order season, which was from September 2025-February 2026, was up 4% annually, with the firm calling it “a notable improvement” compared to double-digit declines seen earlier in the cycle. And it explained that the steady narrowing of the annual deficit in recent months, coupled with strengthening freight conditions, suggests that the market is stabilizing and also transitioning into what it called the early stages of a cyclical recovery.
But it also cautioned that various risks, including durability of the freight recovery, still-high financing costs, the potential for tariff or regulatory shifts, and geopolitical risks such as the new conflict in the Middle East, remain intact—while stating that the sustained and increasingly freight-driven strength in orders reinforces the case that underlying demand is firming more decisively as 2026 progresses.
ACT data: ACT reported that preliminary Class 8 orders, at 46,200 units saw a 156% annual increase.
“With onerous EPA’27 cost increases on the horizon, an aging fleet, and growing confidence that the winter run-up in freight rates will remain sticky, Class 8 order strength continued in February,” said Carter Vieth, Research Analyst at ACT Research. “February’s intake represents the eighth best order month in the 530 months ACT Research has been collecting data,” shared Carter Vieth, Research Analyst at ACT Research. “The higher EPA’27 cost estimates, coupled with an improved carrier profitability outlook, may partly explain February’s high-side surprise, as dealers and large fleets have even greater incentive to find the budget for equipment now rather than later. Arguably, the most important factor to the order turnaround has been the sustained run-up in spot rates that started in late November.”
