Light rigid trucks lead commercial fleet growth

Latest ABS data shows growth in the numbers of light rigid trucks on our roads is outstripping all other commercial vehicle categories

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2016 Motor Vehicle Census shows the number of registered light rigid trucks increased by 3.4 per cent from last year, with 145,426 such vehicles a part of the national fleet as of January 31, 2016.

The growth puts light rigids ahead of heavy rigids (which displayed growth of 0.9 per cent), articulated trucks (growth of 1.3 per cent) and buses (up 1.5 per cent), making it the fastest-growing category in the commercial vehicle segment.

The ABS defines 'light rigid trucks' as having a GVM of between 3.5 and 4.5 tonnes, and 'heavy rigid trucks' as having a GVM of greater than 4.5 tonnes.

Heavy rigid trucks comprised 334,812 registered vehicles at the end of last January, while articulated trucks accounted for 96,185 vehicles and buses accounted for 96,582 vehicles.

The growth of the light rigid truck segment was eclipsed only by campervans, which grew in number by 4.5 per cent (albeit off a small base, with 60,900 vehicles registered in January 2016).

Growth of light commercial vehicles was also strong, with that segment increasing by 2.7 per cent to equate with a total of 2,985,592 vehicles.

At the end of January 2016 it was, of course, passenger cars that comprised the largest portion of the national registered fleet with 13,815,107 vehicles (up 2.0 per cent), while the entire fleet – comprising all major categories – totalled 18,387,136 vehicles.

If you think it's taking longer to get from A to B on our nation's roads, it probably is – that figure represents overall growth of 2.1 per cent from the previous year.

For more information and to download the full ABS Motor Vehicle Census click here.

Light rigid trucks lead commercial fleet growth

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