Record sales for June

New benchmark set for June sales overall as well as in the light-duty truck segment

According to the Truck Industry Council’s T-Mark industry report, the month of June 2017 saw a couple of long standing records broken for new truck sales in Australia.

Firstly, the total number of heavy vehicles, light-duty trucks and vans, medium-duty trucks and heavy-duty trucks sold during June was 3879 units, surpassed the previous best June mark set jointly in 2007 and 2009 of 3718 units.

June 2007 was, of course, pre-Global Financial Crisis (GFC) with both the economy and truck sales booming, while the 2009 result was artificially effected by then federal government GFC incentives that saw a spike in sales for the month of June, in a year that was otherwise quite forgettable for new truck sales.

The second record that was broken in June just passed was that of new light-duty truck deliveries. A total of 1233 small trucks were sold for the month, breaking the pre-GFC record of 1170 set twelve years ago in June 2005.

Second quarter results

The overall second quarter result for calendar year 2017 was not a new record with this year’s April to June result falling short of the 9951 peak set in the pre-GFC year of 2008 by 318 heavy vehicle sales. While year-to-date 2017 sales of 16,791 trucks and vans has fallen well short of the best first half year result achieved also in the pre-GFC year of 2008 when 18,218 new vehicles were delivered to the end of June.

Taking a look at each of the four segments individually, the Heavy Duty truck segment has again performed strongly in June with 1250 HD deliveries, up 18.8 per cent (198 trucks) over June 2016. However, this was not a record for the month of June; that is held by June 2010 where 1421 heavies were delivered.

Looking at quarter two 2017 in isolation, we again see a healthy performance for the HD sector, 3014 sales for April to June, up on the second quarter 2016 result by a significant 408 trucks (15.6 per cent). Looking at the first half year result shows that heavy duty trucks sales are in a much better place in 2017 – 5130 sales verses 4510 sales to the end of June 2016, an improvement of 13.8 per cent (620 additional trucks).

The Medium Duty segment was a real surprise in 2016 with strong sales growth, 2017 however, has seen the segment struggle to repeat last year’s results, June being a case in point.

A total of 743 MD trucks were delivered last month, down 7.9 per cent (-64 trucks) over June 2016. The overall April to June result is better but sales still trail those seen in the same period last year, with 1943 mediums delivered in 2017 compared to 1972 for quarter two 2016. Year-to-date medium-duty truck sales are performing only slightly worse than in 2016 with 3322 deliveries to the end of June 2017, just 0.7 per cent (-23 trucks) down on the 2016 half year result.

As detailed above, the month of June was a new record for light-duty (those between 3500kg and 8000kg GVM) truck sales with 1233 LD trucks delivered for the month, up 11.8 per cent (130 vehicles) over June 2016 and surpassing the 2005 pre-GFC high of 1170 sales by 63 trucks.

The 2017 quarter two result was also strong for LD trucks with 3117 trucks sold, up 276 units over the second quarter 2016 result of 2,841 deliveries. For the first half year 5451 light-duty trucks have been delivered, comfortably ahead of the same period in 2016 by 8.6 per cent or 432 trucks.

The month of June saw light duty vans (those with a GVM between 3500kg and 8000kg) perform well with 653 van sales for the month, up 10.7 per cent (63 vans) over June 2016. LD vans posted a total of 1559 sales for the months of April to June, up 76 vans over the same quarter in 2016, where 1483 vans were sold. At the half way point of the year, the van tally stands at 2888 units, up on 2016 sales by 3.0 per cent (85 vans).

President of TIC, the peak industry body for truck manufacturers and importers into Australia, Phil Taylor, commented: “The solid second quarter result builds on the encouraging sales seen in the first part of 2017.

“We have seen a new benchmark set for June sales overall and in the light-duty truck segment. Year-to-date we are not back to pre-GFC sales yet, however new truck sales are the best we have seen for nine or more years and that is very pleasing. It has been a long road to recovery and I hope that we see current sales trends continue for the remainder of 2017 and into 2018.” Mr Taylor concluded.

TIC Chief Executive Officer, Tony McMullan, noted the records achieved for the month of June and commented on the strong performance of the heavy-duty sector.

“It is encouraging to finally see a couple of long standing truck sales records being broken in the month of June. Although the heavy-duty segment has not broken any existing sales marks, the segment is posting very good sales month-on-month in 2017 and is performing better than expected at the half way point of the year.”

Mr McMullan continued: “This first half year result paves the way for a solid start to quarter three and whole of year.”

Record sales for June

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