Heavy-duty truck sales close in on all-time new record

After a couple of slower sales months following the financial year end on 30th June, a date that also marked the conclusion of the federal government’s COVID instant asset write-off tax incentive, October saw new truck and heavy van sales bounce back to record levels.

This recovery was led by the heavy truck segment that recorded its best ever October sales.

Sales in quarter three highlighted a trend of slowing new-truck deliveries for the year, this trend however was reversed in October.

The total market, truck and van, was up 4.5 per cent for the month of October over the same month in 2022, while year-to-date heavy vehicle sales are tracking even higher at 9.4 per cent over the first ten months of last year.

In total, 3970 new heavy vehicles were delivered in October, a new all-time record for the month, eclipsing the previous October record which was set in 2021, by 4.2 per cent, or 165 trucks.

All market segments, except light-duty truck, posted gains over the corresponding month last year.

As detailed above, heavy-duty truck sales set an all-time record for October with the segment posting deliveries of 1558 units, up 13.0 per cent, or 179 trucks, on October 2022. October last year having held the previous tenth-month sales record.

Year-to-date, the result is even better with the segment tracking a healthy 18.8 per cent ahead of this time last year. In terms of actual truck numbers, the sales gap now sits at 2244 more heavy-duty trucks sold year-to-date than to the end of October 2022.

The medium-duty truck segment had a stellar month in October with sales up 22.1 per cent, or 118 medium trucks, more than the same month last year.

A total of 652 medium-duty trucks were sold in October. Year-to-date, the tally continues to build on solid 2022 volumes with 6525 trucks delivered to the end of October 2023 compared to 6166 medium trucks this time last year, an increase of 5.8 per cent this year.

Light-duty truck sales have been up and down all year, with October another ‘down’ month. In October, only 1268 light trucks were delivered down 12.3 per cent (-178 trucks) compared to the same month last year.

To the end of October, 13,685 small trucks have been sold year-to-date, that represents a slight increase of 170 sales (1.3 per cent) for sales in 2023.

Light-duty van sales continue to recover from the lows of 2022, and October 2023 was another solid month for vans in Australia.

October saw sales up by 11.8 per cent (52 vans) over October 2022. While the year-to-date sales are even better, tracking up over last year by 14.0 per cent. That represents 615 more van sales thus far in 2023 compared to this time last year.

Commentinmg on the results, Chief Executive Officer of TIC, Tony McMullan said: “It was great to see strong heavy-duty truck sales in October, while the medium-duty truck and light van sectors also continue to perform solidly.

"Light Truck sales were weak in October, however continue to perform slightly above 2022 sales on a year-to-date basis," he said.

"It was also pleasing to see that the overall result for October 2023 was an all-time monthly record.

"With just two months remaining in the year, we are inching ever closer to a new all-time sales record for heavy vehicle sales in Australia. We may even crack the 45,000 new truck sales mark in a calendar year.” Mr McMullan concluded.