January sales leap off the blocks

The Australian commercial vehicle market has come out swinging at the start of 2022, with registrations of new heavy-duty, medium-duty, and light-duty trucks all recording solid growth in January compared to the start of 2021.

Across the major commercial vehicle categories, it was only light-duty vans that posted a contraction, with new registrations for that category down a steep 27.8 per cent.

Overall, the Truck Industry Council T-Mark data reveals that 2148 new commercial vehicles were registered in January, which is up 7.5% on January 2021.

A solid gain of 23.6% was made in the heavy-duty category, where 738 new registrations were recorded, while the medium-duty category was up by 15.0% (with 421 new registrations) and the light-duty segment was up by 5.3% (with 768 new registrations).

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Here's a breakdown of the top five brands in the overall and individual segment standings, by number of new registrations…

Overall commercial new vehicle registrations, January 2022 (with PCP percentage change)
1. Isuzu, 622, +24.4%
2. Hino, 298, -9.1%
3. Fuso, 288, +17.1%
4. Kenworth, 150, +33.9%
5. Volvo, 109, +14.7%

Heavy-duty new vehicle registrations, January 2021 (with PCP percentage change)
1.Kenworth, 150, +33.9%
2. Isuzu, 127, +56.8%
3. Volvo, 109, +17.2%
4. Mack, 58, +190.0%
5. UD Trucks, 54, +125.0%

Medium-duty new vehicle registrations, January 2021 (with PCP percentage change)
1. Isuzu, 210, +46.9%
2. Hino, 110, -14.1%
3. Fuso, 73, +15.9%
4. IVECO, 10, -50.0%
5. Mercedes-Benz, 6, +100.0%

Light-duty new vehicle registrations, January 2021 (with PCP percentage change)
1. Isuzu, 285, +3.3%
2. Fuso, 189, +18.1%
3. Hino, 160, -7.0%
4. IVECO, 51, +183.3%
5. FIAT, 49, +44.1%

Light-duty van new vehicle registrations, January 2021 (with PCP percentage change)
1. Mercedes-Benz, 106, +9.3%
2. Volkswagen, 47, +11.9%
3. Renault, 21, -12.5%
4. IVECO, 17, -39.3%
5. FIAT/Ford (eq), 15, -46.4%/-82.8%

"January was a strong start to the year, almost as good as January 2018, a year that of course went on to set a new all-time record for new truck sales in Australia," said Tony McMullan, CEO of Truck Industry Council.

"It was very pleasing to see such a strong start to the year for the Heavy, Medium and Light-Duty truck segments, all three up on January 2021. However, as I generally remark at this time of year, January and even February sales are subject to fluctuations and some inconsistencies due to the transition of supplying trucks from one year to the next and the summer holiday season.

"One should not read too much into the January result. We will have a much better indication of how the market is tracking for the year at the end of the first quarter, once January, February and March numbers are in and the market has had a chance to normalise.

"We are also heading into a federal election year in 2022 and historically that has the effect of disrupting sales, as some organisations await the election result before committing to significant capital expenditure. However, with strong government COVID financial incentives still on the table for 2022 and into 2023, times are good for purchasing a new truck."