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An Autumn chill has slowed new truck sales in Australia

What a difference 12 months makes.

The release of the Truck Industry Council’s official T-Mark truck sales data for the Australian market, released on Friday, shows 3,416 heavy vehicles were sold in April 2025, down 709 sales compared to April 2024’s sales results.

Of the sales made by the truck brands to the end of April 2025, across all categories, Isuzu has won 28.3 per cent of the market (3,893 sales), followed by Hino with 9.4 per cent (1,291), Fuso with 7.6 per cent, (1.050), Kenworth with 7.5 per cent (1,037), Volvo with 5.5 per cent (760) and Iveco with 3 per cent (410).

Truck Industry Council CEO Tony McMullan says a number of factors have contributed to the declining demand seen in the market so far this year.

“The April sales numbers in combination with the first quarter 2025 sales show that the heavy truck and van market is cooling this year,” McMullan says.

“However at the end of April, overall heavy vehicle sales were the third best on record, only bettered by the record sales years of 2023 and 2024.

“Further, historically new heavy vehicle sales have always slowed in the runup to a federal election, with businesses potentially waiting to witness the market reaction to the election result before committing to fleet replacements and/or business expansion.

“With the election result now known and with the Labor government returned, Australian businesses have a reasonable insight into the economic environment for the next three years. With that clarity, it will be interesting to watch the Australian economy and business confidence over the next few months.

“Of course the happenings in the USA economy and the possibility of a US recession, may have the potential to weaken Australian business confidence in the coming months.

“We are in somewhat unchartered economic times globally and the effects on the Australian economy are equally unknown.

“It is difficult to predict how new Australian truck sales will perform for the rest of 2025. However if we keep tracking at, or above, the third best yearly sales result, 2025 may work out better than some commentators would have you believe.”

Coming back to the results, April 2025 has recorded smaller sales volumes in all of the categories monitored in the T-Mark data, commercial vans, heavy, medium and light duty trucks.

Heavy Duty

Heavy Duty sales were down a significant 28.4 per cent for the month, 440 less heavies delivered in April 2025 compared with April 2024.

In total 1,110 Heavy Duty trucks were sold in April. Year-to-date the Heavy segment is fairing a little better recording a total of 4,490 sales to the end of April, down 15.9 per cent (-848) over the same first four months of 2024.

The top 10 brands for sales volumes in April, in order, are: Kenworth (271), Isuzu (208), Volvo (183), Scania (70), Hino (69), Mercedes-Benz (56), Fuso (54), Mack (53), DAF (46), UD Trucks (36).

Medium Duty

Sales in the Medium Duty segment have fallen away as the year has progressed.

In April the Medium Duty segment performed better than any other sector, though still down on April 2024 sales. A total of exactly 600 Medium trucks were delivered, down 9 per cent (-59 trucks) over April 2024.

Year-to-date the Medium truck numbers show the segment trailing the same period last year by just 5.7 per cent, -136 trucks. A total of 2,264 Medium Duty trucks have been sold so far in 2025.

The top 10 brands for sales volumes in April, in order, are: Isuzu (297), Hino (213), Fuso (65), Hyundai (10), Man (5), UD Trucks (4), Iveco (3), Mercedes-Benz (1), Volvo (1), DAF (1).

Light Duty

The Light end of the market, trucks and vans, was not immune to the downturn in sales.

The Light Truck segment took the biggest hit (trucks between 3,500 kg and 8,000 kg GVM). All up, 872 trucks were sold in April, down 25 per cent (-291 trucks) over April 2024.

Again, as seen across the other segments, year-to-date the Light Duty truck segment is tracking better than the April result showed. A total of 3,800 Light trucks have been sold thus far in 2025, down 12.2 per cent (-526 trucks) on this time last year.

The top 10 brands for sales volumes in April, in order, are: Isuzu (487), Fuso (123), Iveco (61), Fiat (59), Hino (58), Renault (41), Hyundai (13), Mercedes-Benz (12), Ford (8), LDV (7).

Light Duty Vans

Light Duty van sales (vans with a GVM between 3,500 kg and 8,000 kg) have been sluggish in 2025.

A total of only 834 vans were sold in April, a fall of 13.4 per cent over April 2024.

The year-to-date end of April result is a little better, a 5.3 percent drop on average over the first four months, with only 3,219 Van have been sold in 2025, that is 181 fewer Light Duty Van sales than in 2024 at the end of April.

The Truck Industry Council is the peak body representing all suppliers of on-road heavy vehicles in Australia.  TIC members represent 19 truck brands currently on sale in Australia, plus four truck engine and major component brands.

Its T-Mark Truck Market Data is a database that compiles all sales of trucks (that is, non-passenger carrying vehicles with Gross Vehicle Mass above 3,500 kg) sold into the Australian market that comply with Australian Design Rules.

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