Mercedes Benz trucks were the big movers in the latest monthly sales figures released by TIC with the German maker’s new Actros range starting to gain some traction and capturing 6.8 per cent of the market in September.
Benz staffers will probably be breathing a sigh of relief know ing the sales boost has been a long time coming and with a healthy order book for the fully imported Actos models and some long lead times on delivery the sales boom for the three pointed star should continue for some time to come.
Isuzu continued its dominance at the top of the overall sales charts recording 786 sales in September and 23.8 per cent of the market, a little down on its year to date market share of 24.8 per cent but still a healthy lead for the king of the market 10.3 percentage points ahead of second place Hino with 434 sales.
It was a healthy month for Hino with deliveries of its new 500 series continuing to boost its bottom line while rival Fuso lost a handful of sales re3maining third overall in the market.
Amongst the more heavy duty oriented makers Kenworth was line ball with its August result selling exactly the same 229 units as it did in the previous month, Benz jumped from 113 sales in August to record 225 deliveries in September, Volvo delivered 183 trucsk up from 170 the previous month, Iveco was down 27 units and Mack also dropped slightly down from 101 in August to 93 in September.
Scania and UD also had small drops as did MAN which was down six units to 103 deliveries in Setpember on the back of continued fulfilment of the German maker’s significant Australian Defence Forces contract.
Freightliner flatlined again selling exactly the same 43 units as it did in August while the other Daimler owned but Penske managed brand Western Star had a bumper month off its disappointing August recording 34 sales more than double the 15 it di the previous month.
In the van market Benz continued its dominance recording 236 sales more than doubkel second place Renault’s 103, with Ford on 75, Fiat on 36, VW on 23 and Iveco a disappointing 14 down from its 41 sales in August
Overall the market remains strong recording with total sales for September at 3304 units compared with 3263 in August and the market running at 26294 for the year to date.
