Orders for Navistar Class 6-8 trucks hit a nearly two-year high last month, which the company attributed to its decision announced on Sept. 3 to add the Cummins ISB 6.7L diesel engine with SCR aftertreatment to its medium-duty vehicle line, including IC Buses.
Navistar orders for the came in at nearly 5,900, with more than a third of those powered by the ISB. It was not immediately clear how many of those 2,100 units are school buses. The company did report that it will begin delivering the first IC CE Series school buses with the SCR engine to customers in late January.
The first CE Series buses with the ISB were built last month as were International DuraStar trucks.
“September orders marked Navistar’s highest monthly order intake for Class 6/7 vehicles in almost two years, which strengthens our belief that the ISB will be the catalyst for improving our medium-duty business,” said Bill Kozek, Navistar president, North America Truck and Parts. “Many of our customers asked us to add the ISB to our lineup, and we listened. With more than 2,100 orders in the first 30 days, we’re optimistic this will be a winning combination in the marketplace.”
Navistar estimated its Class 6/7 order share at 31.7 percent for the month, up from 18.8 percent in August.
“We are also pleased with our Class 8 order performance in September,” Kozek added. “For the last five months, we have seen a positive trend in orders, driven by our new product launches and quality improvements.”
For Class 8, Navistar estimated order share at 17.4 percent for September, up from 16.6 percent the prior month. The company said it has also received more than 11,500 orders for Cummins ISX engines since Dec. 1 of last year and more than 6,000 orders for MaxxForce 13 engines with SCR since March 1.
