Positive trends to feed significant Class 8 market growth in 2018

While trade uncertainty and new legislation means no-one can rest easy, the US trucking industry is heading into 2018 with confidence that continued growth is on the cards, and particularly in the Class 8 segment.

The use of electronic devices to log working hours will be a learning curve for such fleets, and is already impacting productivity rates. Then there is the push to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the implications of which remain unclear for many; at the same time, investments are pouring into R&D for alternative propulsion and active safety technologies such as platooning.

With all this in mind, Steve Tam, Vice President of Columbus, Indiana-based ACT Research, speaks to Automotive World about what to expect from the US trucking market in 2018.