and Iveco vehicles. The Council of Supply Chain Manage- ment Professionals’ 2026 State of Logistics Report, released earlier in June, found that uncertainty is now a constant in 2026 and likely to remain so in the coming years. Carriers are adapting to change, includ- ing the supply-driven capacity reductions boosting rates significantly for the first time in four years and expectations of a sustained freight market recovery.
administration — including for medium- and heavy-duty trucks and parts — paused investment by carriers uncertain about the macroeconomic environment. Those same tariffs plus other trade pol- icy initiatives simultaneously delayed any rebound in the freight market, extending the longest downturn in industry memory. “Unless we start having these just mas- sive policy shifts that change week to week again, I think the industry is going to con-
tinue and go forward and make these big capital in- vestments and buy these trucks finally,” Manzi said after a presentation to ATD members in Washington as part of the trade group’s an- nual Fly-In visit with con- gressional delegations. That’s even without ex- pectations of carriers ramp- ing up purchases to beat the deadline related to the intro- duction of stricter Environ- mental Protection Agency nitrogen oxide emissions, an expected surge colloqui- ally known as the “pre-buy.” Orders for Class 8 trucks rose year on year for a sixth consecutive month in May, totaling 26,500 vehicles for a 103% jump compared with May 2025. May was the fourth month in a row in which there was a 100% or more year-over-year increase. May’s orders were 56% above the 10-year monthly average of 17,046 units, FTR Transportation Intelligence data shows. However, through the first five months of 2026, Class 8 sales totaled 73,419 vehicles, down 16% compared with 87,447 in the same period a year earlier, according to Omdia Automotive data. Truck makers are now playing catch-up after orders in 2025 were so poor that some production lines were shut during the first quarter of the year, including at Volvo Trucks North America’s flag- ship Dublin, Va., facility. Dealers are seeing more appetite from carriers, even in the unstable marketplace, and the trend line is moving in the right direction, Korey Neal, CEO of Hyattsville, Md.-based K. Neal Truck and Bus Center, told TT. “Last year, there was a lot of uncertainty, whether it was tariffs; are they here, are they not? I think that we know that we have a plan to move forward, and tariffs are what they are, so now we can exe- cute based upon the current business environment,” said Neal, whose dealership sells International Motors, Hino
Transport Topics • July 2026, Issue 1 9
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