Heavy duty truck sales near record for October

The Truck Industry Council has reported gains virtually across the board for commercial vehicle sales last month

The TIC’s monthly report says that in October we again saw the Heavy Duty Truck segment forge ahead, leading a continued recovery of the heavy vehicle market in Australia.

The total truck and van market was up 13.8 per cent for the month of October, while year-to-date heavy vehicle sales are tracking 10.2 per cent higher than this time in 2016. All market segments, except Light Duty Truck, posted gains over the corresponding month last year. Overall the month was the second best on strength.

As detailed above, Heavy Duty Truck sales were very strong in October, not a record but the second best October on record. The segment posting deliveries of 1188 units, up a massive 36.6 per cent, 316 trucks, on October 2016. Year-to-date, the result is not quite as strong, but still significantly positive with Heavy sales tracking up 20.9 per cent over those of the same period in 2016. In terms of actual truck numbers the sales gap now sits at 1634 more Heavy trucks sold year-to-date than in 2016.

Medium Duty Truck sales have been the weakest performing segment in 2017. That said, growth in this middle sector has still been positive with year-to-date sales tracking 2.7 per cent higher than those recorded in 2016, up 155 trucks to the end of October. Looking at the month in isolation sales were solid with 652 deliveries, up 10.0 percent, that representing 31 more Medium trucks delivered for the month than in October 2016.

Light Duty truck sales were the star performer in 2016 and while October 2017 sales of 1045 were down 1.6 per cent (-47 trucks) compared to the same month last year, the Light Truck segment year-to-date is outperforming 2016. To the end of October, 9477 small trucks have been sold which represents an increase of 601 sales (6.8 per cent up) over the same period in 2016.

The Light Duty Van segment remains the second strongest growth segment in 2017, after that of Heavy Trucks. October was another solid month for Light Van sales, up 11.2 per cent, 53 vans more than the same month last year. A total of 525 vans were sold in October.

Year-to-date, the tally continues to build on 2016 volumes with 4873 vans delivered to the end of October 2017 compared to 4506 vans this time last year, an increase of 8.1 per cent this year.

President of the TIC Phil Taylor said: “It was great to see strong heavy-vehicle sales in October, with again the Heavy Duty Truck segment forging ahead as it has done for all of 2017. With just two months remaining, I am pleased that the strong sales we saw in the first half of the year have continued.

“I feel that we are unlikely to see an industry sales record by the end of this year, but we could see the second strongest year on record and that would be very positive news for the road freight transport sector,” Mr Taylor added.

Tony McMullan, the TIC’s Chief Executive Officer, was also pleased to see another strong sales month for heavy vehicles in October. “I am pleased to see a very strong performance from the Heavy Duty Truck segment in October with solid results in Medium Duty Truck and Light Duty Van. All segments are tracking higher than they were at this time in 2016 and that is positive news for the industry.

“I believe the momentum built year-to-date will continue for November and December to produce the best sales result we have seen since the Global Financial Crisis. Hopefully a solid year end to 2017 will result in a healthy start to 2018 and continued sales growth next year,” Mr. McMullan concluded.

Heavy duty truck sales near record for October

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