Light-duty truck and van sales continue to surge while heavy-duty doldrums drag on…
Australian truck sales in 2015 up 4.5 per cent in 2015 according to the end of year T-Mark data summary issued by the peak industry body, the Truck Industry Council.
A total of 32,003 new commercials were registered during the year an increase of 4.5 per cent on the 2014 tally. It also reflected a bumper final month of the year with 3070 vehicles registered in December, a whopping 8.5 per cent increase on the same month in 2015.
However it is not all sweetness and joy across the entire industry, with heavy duty trucks again taking a knock in sales volume and flat growth in the medium duty sector while light duty registered good growth and vans went gang busters.
Tony McMullan, Chief Executive Officer of TIC, said he hopes that the stronger December results could be an indication of improving truck sales this year.
“Overall 2015 finished about where we expected it ,” said McMullan.
“Business confidence continues to be low when it comes to the high-dollar investments that are required to purchase new heavy trucks, while companies obviously feel more comfortable with the smaller outlays required to upgrade the light end of their vehicle fleets.
“We can only hope that the renewed sales confidence shown by transport businesses in the light truck and van segments will carry over into the heavy truck segment in 2016. With the strong December 2015 result, albeit biased still to the light end of the market, a positive sign is that business confidence continues to grow and we will hopefully see this trend continue into 2016. Of course we face a federal election year this year and I note that in past election years we tend to see business taking a cautious approach to new investments, particularly larger dollar expenditure.
“As TIC has detailed for some time now, without reasonable new sales growth across all segments, but particularly in the heavy-duty segment, the average age of the Australian truck park will continue to grow. An old truck fleet is less productive, does not employ the latest safety technologies and of course has poorer environmental outcomes.
“TIC has long called for an incentive program that would see truck operators encouraged to replace the oldest trucks in their fleets with new vehicles – perhaps we will see such a plan offered in the run-up to this year’s election,” he added.
Isuzu registered its 25th straight year as market leader overall selling 7442 units in 2015 up around 4.1 per cent on 2014 while Hino was number two in the market in terms of volume selling 4443 trucks for a remarkable 9.6 per cent increase over the previous 12 months. Fuso rounded out the top three with 3453 sales up 8 per cent on 2014.
Amidst the gnashing of teeth of In the heavy-duty market, December saw 1011 heavy-duty trucks registered a drop of 1.1 per cent on December 2014 resulting in a total heavy-duty tally of 9895 trucks for 2015. That figure is a drop of 7.5 per cent on 2014. Kenworth continued as market leader selling 2014 units for the year which is a 7.9per cent drop on its result the previous year. Volvo moved 1470 trucks across the 12 months a rise of 1.4 per cent on 2014 to give the Swedish company number two spot in the heavy market just ahead of a rapidly growing Isuzu which posted a 7.8 per cent increase in the sector selling 1203 trucks across the year to the end of December. Volvo and Isuzu were the only heavy brands to register growth in the sector.
In medium duty Isuzu was the dominant force ahead of its two chief Japanese rivals Hino and Fuso in the sector. Medium duty sales were down 2.9 per cent for the month of December with 634 trucks registered meaning a year end tally of 6725 medium duty sales which was up 1.9 per cent on 2014.
While continuing to lead medium duty, Isuzu dropped 0.4 per cent for the year selling 2743 trucks as Hino made some ground on its long time rival growing 10 per cent for the year with total sales of 2024 trucks. Fuso was again third in medium duty with 1084 registrations delivering a 1.6 per cent increase on 2014.
Light duty sales grew 12.7 per cent in 2015 with 9868 light duty trucks sold across the year and 985 for the final month of 2015, an increase of 12.7 per cent for the year and massive 24.8 percent growth for December. Every truck maker registered growth except for Mercedes with the usual Japanese trio taking the top three spots on the scoreboard of Isuzu shifted 3496 light duty trucks in 2015 while Hino sold 2112 and Fuso 1988.
Mercedes-Benz continued its leadership of the light duty van market registering a 8.3 per cent increase for the year with 2371 Benz vans sold while Renault jumped an amazing 41.8 per cent to be number two in the van sector with 1361 sales, finishing ahead of Ford which was third with 657 sales a growth of 28.3 per cent on 2015. The Year on year result for 2015 saw 5515 new light duty vans hitting the road, an increase of 20.5 per cent on 2014.
While heavy was down it is clear the market is still buoyant and the increase in light and van sales points to the strong distribution market where sales are clearly servicing the increasing demand to satisfy the freight task around the country. What 2016 holds only time will tell.
2015 NEW COMMERCIAL VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS: OVERALL (TOP 10)
| RANKING | MANUFACTURER | YTD REGOS | REGO VARIANCE (%) | MARKET SHARE (%) |
| Isuzu | 7442 | +4.1 | 23.3 | |
| Hino | 4443 | +9.6 | 13.9 | |
| Fuso | 3453 | +8.0 | 10.8 | |
| Kenworth | 2016 | -7.8 | 6.3 | |
| Volvo | 1476 | +1.5 | 4.6 | |
| Iveco | 1395 | -4.8 | 4.4 | |
| Mercedes-Benz | 972 | -12.7 | 3.0 | |
| Mack | 922 | -6.0 | 2.9 | |
| UD Trucks | 747 | -3.9 | 2.3 | |
| Scania | 707 | -9.2 | 2.2 |
2015 NEW TRUCK REGISTRATIONS: HEAVY-DUTY (TOP 10)
| RANKING | MANUFACTURER | YTD REGOS | REGO VARIANCE (%) | MARKET SHARE (%) |
| Kenworth | 2014 | -7.9 | 20.4 | |
| Volvo | 1470 | +1.4 | 14.9 | |
| Isuzu | 1203 | +7.8 | 12.2 | |
| Mack | 922 | -6.0 | 9.3 | |
| Scania | 705 | -9.5 | 7.1 | |
| Iveco | 588 | -15.8 | 5.9 | |
| Freightliner | 568 | -17.9 | 5.7 | |
| Fuso | 381 | -9.9 | 3.9 | |
| Mercedes-Benz | 347 | -9.2 | 3.5 | |
| Hino | 305 | -1.9 | 3.1 |
2015 NEW TRUCK REGISTRATIONS: MEDIUM-DUTY (TOP 10)
| RANKING | MANUFACTURER | YTD REGOS | REGO VARIANCE (%) | MARKET SHARE (%) |
| Isuzu | 2743 | -0.4 | 40.8 | |
| Hino | 2026 | +10.8 | 30.1 | |
| Fuso | 1084 | +1.6 | 16.1 | |
| UD Trucks | 544 | -4.7 | 8.1 | |
| Iveco | 124 | +10.7 | 1.8 | |
| Mercedes-Benz | 97 | -30.2 | 1.4 | |
| MAN | 56 | -20.0 | 0.8 | |
| DAF | 33 | -2.9 | 0.5 | |
| Foton | 8 | N/A | 0.0 | |
| Kenworth | 2 | N/A | 0.0 |
2015 NEW TRUCK REGISTRATIONS: LIGHT-DUTY (TOP 10)
| RANKING | MANUFACTURER | YTD REGOS | REGO VARIANCE (%) | MARKET SHARE (%) |
| Isuzu | 3496 | +6.6 | 35.4 | |
| Hino | 2112 | +10.3 | 21.4 | |
| Fuso | 1988 | +16.5 | 20.1 | |
| Iveco | 683 | +4.1 | 6.9 | |
| Fiat | 542 | +35.2 | 5.5 | |
| Mercedes-Benz | 528 | -10.8 | 5.4 | |
| Renault | 149 | +18.3 | 1.5 | |
| Foton | 139 | N/A | 1.4 | |
| Ford | 138 | +500.0 | 1.4 | |
| Volkswagen | 93 | +63.2 | 0.9 |
2015 NEW TRUCK REGISTRATIONS: LIGHT-DUTY VAN (TOP 6)
| RANKING | MANUFACTURER | YTD SALES | SALES VARIANCE (%) | MARKET SHARE (%) |
| Mercedes-Benz | 2371 | +8.3 | 43.0 | |
| Renault | 1361 | +41.8 | 24.7 | |
| Ford | 657 | +28.3 | 11.9 | |
| Fiat | 614 | +15.6 | 11.1 | |
| Volkswagen | 326 | +24.0 | 5.9 | |
| Iveco | 186 | +53.7 | 3.4 |
