To measure the health of the commercial vehicle market, ACT Research analysis the monthly performance across the market indicators (build, net orders, retail sales, order cancels, backlog, and inventories) across a one (current) month, year-to-date, current month vs. past month, current month vs. past month one year ago, current three months vs. same three months one year ago, year-to-date vs. year-to-date one year ago, and annualized.
Two areas we call out specifically are the number of build days and the number of order/sales days per month.
We then analyze the following:
Monthly units built (production) per day (build: units/day) across Class 5, 6/7 Truck, Bus, RV, and Step Van, and Class 8 Tractor Sleeper, Tractor Day Cab, Truck Sleeper, and Truck Day Cab.
Monthly net orders per day (net orders: units/day) across Class 5, 6/7 Truck, Bus, RV, and Step Van, and Class 8 Tractor Sleeper, Tractor Day Cab, Truck Sleeper, and Truck Day Cab.
Monthly retail sales per day (retail sales: units/day) across Class 5, 6/7 Truck, Bus, RV, and Step Van, and Class 8 Tractor Sleeper, Tractor Day Cab, Truck Sleeper, and Truck Day Cab.
Monthly orders canceled as a percentage of backlog across Class 5, 6/7 Truck, Bus, RV, and Step Van, and Class 8 Tractor Sleeper, Tractor Day Cab, Truck Sleeper, and Truck Day Cab.
Monthly backlog to build ratio at rates in months across Class 5, 6/7 Truck, Bus, RV, and Step Van, and Class 8 Tractor Sleeper, Tractor Day Cab, Truck Sleeper, and Truck Day Cab.
Monthly inventory to retail sales ratio at rates in months across Class 5, 6/7 Truck, Bus, RV, and Step Van, and Class 8 Tractor Sleeper, Tractor Day Cab, Truck Sleeper, and Truck Day Cab.