Truck lead times steady in April
May 23, 2012
For trucks ordered in April, the calculated average time from order to delivery remained steady and sits right at 4.4 months. This is the lowest level since November 2010. This metric has been under a reading of 5.0 for the last 3 months. A reading under 5.0 suggests that there is ample production capacity online to meet demand. As levels start to approach 4.0 it would suggest that there is excess production capacity online and manufacturers would be looking to cut production.
No need to rush
Surprisingly, Q2 build slots have around 9,000 open slots available. This suggests that there is not significant pressure to line up and place an order. In fact, the second half of the year has a large number of open slots. Therefore, we do not anticipate truckers “getting in line” and placing large orders for later delivery to lock in manufacturing capacity.
- Source: FTR Associates’ OEM Market Indicator Database
- The graphed data is for total N.A. backlogs/build ratio. This includes U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Export data
- The market indicator data includes all major North American truck builders.
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