Figures from the Truck Industry Council show another strong month through March with 2962, up 11 per cent on March 2016 and with a year to date total of 7158, up 5.7 per cent on the same point last year.
Isuzu maintains its market leader status with 1792 sales this year, up 7.1 per cent on the same time last year with Hino trailing on 938 and growth of 5.6 per cent. With 771 units, Fuso sits third while Kenworth is 12.8 per cent down on 2016 with 349 units in fourth with Volvo rounding out the top five on 321 trucks, and 2.2 per cent growth.
TIC president Phil Taylor says March’s sales figures show great promise for the remainder of the year.
“I am pleased to see that March truck sales were more in line with industry expectations and this has helped normalise sales to the end of the first quarter of 2017,” he said.
“The market looks good at the end of March; let’s hope that this trend continues for the rest of the year!”
In the heavy-duty sector there were 979 sales, a staggering 23 per cent up on last March, taking the total to 2116 for the year – year on year growth of 11.1 per cent.
Medium duty saw a total of 554 trucks sold to give a total of 1379 for the quarter. While March was up 4.5 per cent on last year, the year to date total is just 0.5 per cent up on this time in 2016.
This March saw a 1.5 per cent rise in light-duty sales with 923 for the month, taking the year’s total to 2334 and a solid 7.2 per cent rise on last year’s first quarter, while the van market continued the upward trend, with 506 units translating to growth of 16.6 per cent for the month and taking the total for the year to 1329, up 0.7 per cent on last year.
According to CEO of the Truck Industry Council, Tony McMullan, there is a renewed faith in the market, especially with heavy vehicle figures.
“March has brought some stability to the new truck sales market here in Australia,” he said.
“Sales in each segment are in line with, or ahead of, sales last year and this is pleasing to see at the end of the first quarter of 2017. I am particularly pleased to see that the heavy-duty segment is leading sales growth in the market to the end of March.
“It has been a few years since we have seen heavy truck sales lead the way. This is a likely indicator that business confidence is improving with companies committing to higher capital investments,” he said.
