Isuzu has continued to blast the opposition out of the water in the Australian truck market with an extraordinarily dominate performance in September, capturing 32.8 per cent of the overall market with 1288 trucks registered, in what was another month of soaring truck sales in all sectors.
A total of 3928 trucks were registered in September, which is believed to be the best result for September ever.
The result puts the total market tally for the first nine months of 2022 at 32,235 units, almost 2000 ahead of the same period in the record year of 2018 and around 1600 ahead of this point last year.
Isuzu’s result was impressive on every level, taking 54.5 per cent of the light duty market to lead that sector, 46.5 per cent in medium duty and segment leadership and 13.5 per cent in heavy duty taking third behind Kenworth and Volvo.
Isuzu sales boss Les Spaltman predicted early this year that the company would sell more than 13000 trucks this year and that prophecy will prove true with the brand sitting on a YTD tally of 9642 trucks so far, leaving it only 3357 away from that goal with three months to play.
Meantime Isuzu’s overall sales of 1288 for the month saw it sell almost three times the 432 Hino registered with the Toyota controlled truck maker slipping to third in the market for the first time since records began.
Daimler’s Fuso brand had a reasonable month with 468 sales and its second placing result was certainly aided by Hino’s dip in sales. Fuso bettered Hino in light duty and heavy duty sectors to steal a march on its long time rival.
In the prestigious heavy duty segment it was a ding dong battle between the traditional behemoths of the industry, Kenworth and Volvo, with the Swede coming within five units of beating the Paccar brand. Kenworth registered 230 trucks while Volvo moved 225 units. It is believed that Volvo’s supply issues of last year have been overcome thanks to a supply of CBU trucks sourced from its plant in Saudi Arabia. Kenworth still holds a commanding lead in the YTD figures, sitting 529 ahead of Volvo with little chance that can be beaten by December.
Isuzu’s 173 heavy duty sales put it in third place in the sector while UD was a surprise fourth with 110 heavies , five ahead of Scania on 105. Fuso’s Shogun continues to win friends in the heavy market moving 92 of them in September.
Hino was seventh in heavies with 72, with DAF on 70, Mercedes on 64, Mack on 53 and Freightliner on 45.
Isuzu topped medium duty with 313 sales for the month while Hino was second with 204 and Fuso third with 115 units. As usual the three leading Japanese brands dominated the market so thoroughly that between them they took 93.9 per cent share of the sector.
They were the only brands to break into triple figures, with UD in fourth place with a meagre 13 units, while Iveco sold seven mediums as did Hyundai.
Isuzu sold a total of 802 light duty trucks to blitz the opposition grabbing 54.2 per cent market share. Fuso took second with 261 sales for 17.6 per cent share, while Hino slumped to third with 156 light duty for 10.5 per cent share. Meantime Iveco had its best month in light for some time breaking the 100 unit barrier registering 105 trucks, ahead of Renault on 54, Fiat on 46, Mercedes on 32 and Hyundai on 12.
Mercedes again dominated the van market selling 179 Sprinters in September for 36 per cent market share 58 clear of VW which sold 121 Crafters for 24.3 per cent shar, while Renault was third with sales of 94 Master vans.
With three months remaining and the tally sitting at 32,235 , the record for annual sales should easily be beaten with the potential for the yearly total to top 44,000 vehicles if all the planets align.
