Truck sales slide continues

Off the back of last year's all-time record, sales of new trucks continued their downward trend during August

Sales of new trucks across the light, medium and heavy-duty categories have continued to soften, with light-duty vans the only major segment to buck the downward year-to-date trend.

Here's a snapshot of how the market performed over August and since the start of the year…

OVERALL

August: 3297 sales (down 14.3% over August 2018)
Year-to-date: 25,380 (down 6.6% over previous corresponding period)

Top Five Brands (with year-to-date variance)
1. Isuzu, 5864 (down 8.3%)
2. Hino, 3635 (no change)
3. Fuso, 2309 (down 18.4%)
4. Kenworth, 1511 (down 17.0%)
5. Volvo, 1479 (up 3.9%)

HEAVY-DUTY

August: 986 sales (down 21.6%)
Year-to-date: 8443 (down 7.9%)

Top Five Brands
1. Kenworth, 1511 (down 17.0%)
2. Volvo, 1458 (up 4.7%)
3. Isuzu, 1001 (down 14.4%)
4. Scania, 740 (up 28.0%)
5. Mack, 711 (up 0.7%)

MEDIUM-DUTY

August: 644 sales (down 10.7%)
Year-to-date: 5051 (down 7.0%)

Top Five Brands
1. Isuzu, 1996 (down 6.2%)
2. Hino, 1564 (up 8.0%)
3. Fuso, 712 (down 12.2%)
4. MAN, 451 (down 11.4%)
5. UD Trucks, 179 (down 43.4%)

LIGHT-DUTY

August: 1029 sales (down 10.8%)
Year-to-date: 7581 (down 9.4%)

Top Five Brands
1. Isuzu, 2867 (down 7.4%)
2. Hino, 1690 (down 6.2%)
3. Fuso, 1273 (down 22.6%)
4. IVECO, 625 (down 15.5%)
5. Mercedes-Benz, 422 (up 3.7%)

LIGHT-DUTY VAN

August: 638 sales (down 10.5%)
Year-to-date: 4305 (up 2.7%)

Top Five Brands
1. Mercedes-Benz, 1874 (up 4.0%)
2. Renault, 768 (down 11.3%)
3. Ford, 610 (up 8.5%)
4. Volkswagen, 531 (up 32.8%)
5. Fiat, 288 (down 15.3%)

Tony McMullan, CEO of Truck Industry Council, said the new truck market had slowed this year and was unlikely to recover in the remaining four months.

"The August result continues the trend that has been building over the past few months," he said.

"Economic conditions have generally slowed globally and in Australia. We now see that trend reflected in new truck and heavy van sales. Given the slowing of sales over the past three to four months, it would now seem unlikely that we will witness a turnaround in new truck sales over the next four months to year end. Hence it is likely that the market will finish down on the record result that was posted in 2018.

"However, the market may well finish above the previous peak of 38,131 vehicle sales recorded back in 2007, potentially making 2019 the second-best year on record for new heavy vehicle sales in Australia."