Slow start for Aussie truck sales

According to the latest Truck Industry Council T-Mark data, a total of 1852 new commercial vehicles were registered in January 2020, the figure representing a fall over the same month last year of 15.7 per cent.

The biggest fall was experienced in the heavy duty segment, which with 588 units was down by 23.4%. It was followed by the light-duty van segment (319 units, down 19.4%) and light-duty trucks (510 units, down 13.7%, while the only major segment to buck the trend was medium-duty trucks. With a total of 435 units registered for January, it was only down by 1.4%.

At the end of January 2020 it was traditional market leader Isuzu leading the charge in the overall sales standings with 489 units, ahead of Hino (333), Fuso (178), Kenworth (177) and Volvo (142).

New-vehicle sales in the Australian truck and van market fell by nearly 9% in 2019 compared to the previous year, but 2018 saw the market reach an all-time record, with a total of 41,628 registrations.

Related reading:
2019 Australian truck sales: who grew, who didn’t
All-time record for Aussie truck sales

"The January result has not come as a surprise to the heavy vehicle industry, though of course it is disappointing," said Truck Industry Council CEO, Tony McMullan.

"Sales in the final half of 2019, particularly the final quarter, were noticeably trending down and with other economic indicators showing no sign that this downward trend was likely to abate, the start of this new decade was destined to be 'soft' for new truck sales.

"This is the worst sales start to a year for five years and as I indicated above is disappointing. Not from a personal point of view, though TIC members always welcome a strong order bank, it is disappointing because it shows that our nation's economy is slowing. Truck sales are a good indicator of our country's economic strength; slowing new truck sales means a slowing economy.

"It is also a disappointing outcome for road safety, as reduced truck sales directly result in uptake of fewer new trucks with the latest safety features such as electronic stability control, autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning and lane keeping assist, etc.

"These month-on-month and now year-on-year results, along with other economic indicators, should be sending a clear message to government that economic stimulus should be a priority sooner rather than later."