The Australian truck market sales surge continued apace in May, and the numbers are still tracking only marginally behind the totals for the all-time record year of 2018, with supply not demand being the major concern for most truck brands as they clamour to meet orders from operators keen to take advantage of the instant asset tax write off.
The market totalled 3639 sales in May taking the year- to-date tally to 15179, which is only 560 units off the ytd tally at the end of May 2018.
Isuzu continued to lead the market recording 861 sales for the month taking 23.7 per cent market share while Hino had another strong month with 596 sales for 16.4 per cent market share, while Fuso was third with 368 sales and 10.1 per cent overall share.
Kenworth was fourth overall and again led the heavy-duty sector although with a slightly smaller overall total than it has achieved in recent months. Kenworth sold 181 trucks overall while long-time rival Volvo clearly overcame some of its supply chain issues to record a much stronger 152 deliveries for the month.
Mercedes Benz has continued its upward sales surge to be sixth overall with 136 sales, ho9wever this is skewed a little, given just 99 of the Benz tally were heavy duty sales, seven were in medium duty and 30 were light duty trucks based on the Sprinter model which is marketed by Benz vans, not Daimler trucks Australia.
Scania had another strong month with 105 sales, all of them Heavies, placing it seventh overall, just ahead of Iveco, which had most of its sales in light duty with the Daily based truck chassis.
Most manufacturers are indicating that order books are full for some months to come and strong sales numbers are likely to continue for some months to come.
In the all-important Heavy Duty sector, Kenworth’s 200 plus unit performances in March and April dipped a little but the Paccar brand continues to dominate the market. This time last year Kenworth trailed Volvo by 136 trucks as a YTD tally, but this year Kenworth leads Volvo by 306 trucks.
Isuzu was third in heavy duty reflecting the strength of the brand in heavy vocational trucks in agitator, waste and tipper dog applications, while Scania and Mercedes-Benz again battled it out, with the Swedish maker edging Benz by just six trucks.
Hino and Mack both had a strong month in heavy in May, both registering with 61 sales, ahead of Fuso with 51, DAF 45, UD 44 and Western Star 34.
Freightliner had another small tally in heavy duty, with just 23 sales, a figure that is sure to be causing some heartache at Mulgrave.
In Medium duty Isuzu again had a fight on its hands, finishing with 249 units for the month, just eight trucks ahead of Hino which registered 241 mediums. Isuzu is just 54 trucks ahead of Hino in medium for the year to date, while Fuso sold 140 medium trucks for the month to be third overall.
The fight in light duty was a tilted a little more in favour of Isuzu with a dominant showing again registering 480 light trucks to take 41.2 per cent market share, with Hino well behind its Japanese rival moving 294 light duty units in May, while Fuso moved 177 to be third in the sector.
In vans Mercedes Benz was the market leader selling 241 vans in may to lead the sector from Ford which moved 188 Transits.
Hyundai still struggles to get traction in the market registering 12 light duty, seven of its new Pavise medium duty and just one Xcient heavy duty model, for a total of 20 sales.
