Australian truck sales showed a degree of resilience during the month of July with overall sales for the market up 22. 5 per cent on the same month last year, with 3897 heavy vehicles being resisted for the seventh month this year compared with 3181 vehicles hitting the road in 2023.
Most of the leading brands registered increases in sales compared with July last year enabling the year to date sales for this year leapfrogged ahead of the record line from last year. At the end of June this year YTD sales were 320 behind the equivalent tally from last year, however the July sales burst has pushed the YTD total for this year 396 units ahead of the 2023 number, reigniting hopes of another record this year.
Isuzu, in normal manner, led the overall market with 1078 units, up 69 trucks on the same month last year, while holding a a strong, if slightly diminished market share of 27.7 per cent. This time last year Isuzu captured 31.7 per cent overall share and while July sales were strong, its YTD registrations are down 395 units on this time last year, having totalled 8108 units in ’23 compared with 7713 units after seven months this year.
Hino was second overall with 370 registrations for June and a 9.5 per cent market share, a total that was 45 trucks up on July ’23.
Fuso is usually third place getter in the total sales race, however heavy duty leader Kenworth trumped the Daimler owned brand in July, with the Bayswater team moving 283 Kennies , all of them heavy duty models, while Fuso registered just 277 trucks for the month to hold fourth in the overall market.
Volvo registered 200 trucks in July to take fifth, with all but three of those being heavy duty models, while Mercedes-Benz was at number six on the charts having moved 156 trucks overall, which includes the light duty cab chassis models sold by its separate van operation.
Scania had another strong month registering 128 trucks, all of them heavy duty models, while Iveco was eighth overall, and when all of its sales were tallied from Daily cab chassis through to S-Way models it totalled 93 registrations.
The top ten overall was rounded out by the two Volvo owned brands, Mack with 83 registrations in ninth and Fiat, which registered 69 of its Ducato cab chassis models to be 10th overall.
As mentioned earlier, Kenworth again out distanced heavy duty rival Volvo in July and has now found it’s way back into the lead in the sector. At the end of May Volvo had a 172 truck lead on Kenworth, but the Paccar brand narrowed the gap to just 35 units at the end of June and at the end of July Kenworth is now 51 units in front of its rival. However there are still five months to go and no one should write the Brisbane based truck maker off just yet. Kenworth’s 283 heavy sales put it 86 units ahead for the month.
As observed last month, Isuzu continues to perform strongly in heavy duty, with the brand registering 167 heavy models in July, again moving dangerously close to Volvo in the coveted heavy duty sector, a trend that must be making the sales planners at Volvo nervous, especially with potentially new and more powerful Isuzu heavies on the way in the next 12 months, particularly with a wider range of specifications set to be available.
Scania was next in heavy duty with 128 sales for the month and 10.2 per cent share of the sector, placing it well ahead of Mack with 83 heavies, while the top ten was rounded out by Mercedes in sixth, then UD with 64 in seventh, Hino eighth with 59 and Fuso and DAF tying for ninth with 45 heavies each.
In medium duty Isuzu had another totally dominant month capturing 53.5 per cent of the sector with 333 medium trucks registered, 152 trucks clear of second placed Hino. The Toyota owned brand sold 181 medium duty models for a respectable 29.1 per cent share of the sector, while Fuso scored a disappointing tally of 75 medium duty models to complete the usual dominance by the Japanese brands in the sector.
Mercedes was a distant fourth in the medium sector with just six trucks, followed by Iveco with five, Volvo and UD with three each and DAF with a single medium duty model.
Isuzu naturally also topped light duty, delivering 578 of its N-series models for the month and a 50.5 per cent share of the sector. Fuso again out sold Hino in the lightweight segment registering 157 Canters to the 130 of the Hino 300 Series trucks delivered in July. This translated into a 13.5 per cent sector share for Fuso and just 11.3 per cent for Hino.
Although still well behind the Japanese brands, the European tribe of light duty trucks based on van products again made inroads into the dominant Japanese triumvirate, Mercedes-Benz delivered 76 of its Ducati based trucks, Iveco registering 70 Daily light trucks and Fiat 69 of its Ducato models. Behind that was Renault with 20 deliveries of its Master light trucks, followed by Ford with 17 deliveries, Korean maker Hyundai with 12, VW with nine, LDV registering eight and Foton Mobility with just one electric light truck for July.
In the van market Mercedes-Benz ruled the roost delivering 250 of its Sprinter vans only 30 clear of Chinese brand LDV with 220 of its large vans. LDV is a newcomer to the TIC T-Mark truck sales tracking system with its distributor, Ateco signing on from this month with numbers that will give the German brand a bit to think about when it comes to van market sales supremacy.
Behind the dominant pair at the top of the van charts there was a big drop back to Ford in third with 136 Transit deliveries, Renault with 64 Master vans , Fiat with 61 Ducatos and Iveco with a lowly 30 Daily vans. Another newcomer on the Van sales reports is French brand Peugeot with seven of its Boxer large vans registered in July, the first time its distributor, Inchcape has reported sales for the French cargo carriers.
There is still lots of apprehension and uncertainty in the market as the spectre of slowing growth, the threat of inflation and the pressure that puts on interest rates and buying intentions hovers over the economy, however. the July result may have given a sliver of optimism to truck sellers around the country, Let’s hope so!