The Australian truck industry has recorded its fourth consecutive month of growth with a total of 2,956 units in November, up 3.6 per cent on the same time last year. While the overall trend is up, three of the four segments actually recorded equal or fewer sales than November last year.
Year-to-date sales stand at 29,903, which is 3.4 per cent or 907 units higher than last year.
According to TIC President Phil Taylor, sales are on track to be the strongest year since the global financial crisis.
“With just December results to come, new truck sales in 2016 should see the best post GFC results for the industry, better than those recorded in 2015, albeit with growth coming in the Medium and Light Truck segments only. And despite the final result in 2016, it will be well short of pre-GFC sales by a few thousand truck sales,” Taylor said.
The heavy-duty sector drove the growth for the month, with a total of 973 sold resulting in 21.3 per cent growth year on year and 11.7 per cent on last month.
This result has helped claw back some of the ground lost in this segment in the first half of 2016, with year-to-date HD sales now standing at 8,790 units, trailing the same period last year by just 1.1 per cent, or -93 units.
Medium Duty truck sales were down 1.3 per cent (-8 trucks) for the month of November running against the positive sales trend seen in this segment recently. Year-to-date figures sit at 6,369 which is up 4.6 per cent to the end of November 2015.
The light duty market recorded 898 units for the month growing by just 0.7 per cent on last month, taking its total to 9,774 for the year which is up 10 per cent on this time in 2015.
Meanwhile, it was bad news for the light duty van sector, posting another negative result with just 464 units, down a significant 12.5 per cent on last month. Year-to-date LD Van sales lag those of last year by 2.1 per cent (-105 vans) to the end of November 2015 but still remain on track for the second-best result ever recorded.
