Preliminary data shows North American Class 8 truck net orders fell to 18,062 units in January, a 48% year-over-year decrease, according to FTR.

According to Jonathan Starks, chief operating officer at FTR, 2016 is starting off even weaker than 2015, where orders fell from 376,000 in 2014 to 284,000.

“It is not looking to be a strong year,” Starks said. “However, the fundamentals for freight and demand for truck services should hold up well enough to keep the market at replacement levels. In order to see that occur we would expect to see orders improve as we get into the spring months and fleets finalize their plans for 2016 expenditures.”

Final data for January will be available from FTR later in February as part of its North American Commercial Truck & Trailer Outlook service.