Solid Light Truck sales boost July

Heavy and Medium Truck sales down, while Light Truck and Van sales remain strong

The Truck Industry Council has reported that strong Light Truck sales have been a month to month certainty in the Australian new heavy vehicle market in 2016 and this trend continued for the month of July, albeit at a more modest pace. The news for Light Van sales was also positive, a not so frequent occurrence this year.

However, the news at the top-end of the market was again disappointing with Heavy Duty Truck sales down noticeably for July and Medium Truck sales also in negative territory when compared with the same month in 2015. Total heavy vehicle sales for the month were 2593 units, down 2.3 per cent (61 vehicles) over the same month last year, however total sales year-to-date to the end of July still lead those of 2015 by 2.7 per cent.

As detailed above, the Heavy Duty Truck segment was down again in July, continuing an unfortunate year-long trend, with a total of just 765 units delivered, down a significant 9.1 per cent, or 77 trucks, on July 2015. Year-to-date, the result looks a little better with Heavy sales tracking down 3.8 per cent over those of the same period in 2015.

In terms of actual truck numbers, the sales gap is now 208 fewer Heavy trucks sold year-to-date in 2015. However, one needs to be reminded that the 2015 result was down 8.8 per cent over the same period in 2014 and compared to the end of July 2014, the 2016 year-to-date tally is down a very substantial 737 trucks.

Medium Duty Truck sales have been the second strongest segment of the Australian heavy vehicle market in 2016, but took a backward step in the month of July, with only 546 trucks sold. This is 5.9 per cent (34 units) less than July 2015. Strong results for much of the first half of 2016 had seen the Medium Duty segment kick ahead of 2015 sales and year-to-date the Medium market remains up over last year by 6.7 per cent, with an additional 244 trucks sold.

Light Duty truck sales have seen solid growth in 2016 and while this trend slowed somewhat in July 'little truck' sales were still up over those of the corresponding month last year. 856 Light Trucks were delivered in July, this being a gain of 4.4 per cent (36 trucks) over July 2015. Year-to-date LD truck sales are up over the same period last year by 480 trucks, or 8.9 per cent.

The Light Duty Van segment has seen quite patchy sales in 2016, however the month of July was a positive for van sales in comparison to July 2015. LD Vans posted a total of 426 sales, up 3.4 per cent, or 14 units, compared with July 2015. Year-to-date the tally is still down over 2015 results but the gap is closing, 3,229 sales to the end of July 2016, now down just 1.2 per cent (-40 vans) compared with the same period in 2015.

President of TIC, the peak industry body for truck manufacturers and importers into Australia, Phil Taylor, said: "July is typically a slow month for truck sales, coming off the financial year end of June 30th. However it is encouraging to see that both Light Truck and Van sales were up over those results posted in July 2015, while the year-to-date sales in both the Medium and Light Truck segments head those of last year. I do, however, remain concerned with the continued slow sales in the HD segment. This will lead to an aging of our nation's Heavy Duty Truck park and is not a desirable long-term outcome for heavy vehicle road safety, the environment, or Australia’s road freight productivity," Mr Taylor concluded.

While Tony McMullan, the TIC’s Chief Executive Officer, detailed that he was generally happy with the sales result to the end of July 2016: "We have seen a very long federal election campaign that could have been quite destabilising for business confidence and hence capital investment expenditure, however truck sales have remained solid for most market segments and this is pleasing to see.

"Medium and Light Duty Truck sales are ahead of those posted over the same period last year and Light Duty Van sales have picked up in recent months, now trailing the year-to-date results seen in 2015 by a little over one per cent. However, the continuing poor sales of Heavy Trucks is disappointing and remains a concern for TIC and should be a concern for government as this part of Australia’s truck fleet continues to age.

"Hopefully we will see renewed business activity and increased investment in capital equipment now that the federal election has been decided and the nation’s future political direction set for the next three years." Mr. McMullan concluded.

Solid Light Truck sales boost July

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