Worst performance this decade on cards, marring reasonable performance in other segments
Much as the paucity of heavy-duty truck sales worries the Truck Industry Council (TIC), the timing of further falls reinforces that alarm.
Heavy Truck sales continue their year-long decline with the fourth quarter sales of October and November totalling just 1,664 units, the lowest volume seen since 2010, the TIC notes.
The segment was down again in November with a total of just 802 units delivered, a 17.2 per cent, or 167 trucks, fall on November 2014.
The trend is slightly better year-to-date with heavy-duty truck sales tracking down 8.2 per cent over this time in 2014.
“In unit numbers, that is 793 Heavies less than this time last year,” the TIC notes.
But just when the market usually rallies, traditional expectations have come to nothing.
And TIC-suggested solutions appear to be taking a long time to digest.
“The months of October and November are generally strong for new trucks sales, particularly in the Heavy Duty segment, as fleets gear up for the festive season demands.” TIC CEO Tony McMullan says.
“It is disappointing that road freight companies are either not seeing the demand for increased road freight, which would be quite unusual given the time of year, or they are simply not committing to new heavy truck purchases.
“Sales at the top end of the truck market are so bad that we are potentially facing the worst final quarter result in this segment for five years.
“The Truck Industry Council has been calling on government for some time now to look at the introduction of incentives, such as those outline in the TIC National Truck Plan, to aid the purchases of new trucks, but while we wait for government to consider this we see new truck sales at the top end of the market continue to stall.”
“On a more positive note it is encouraging to see Light Duty Truck and Van sales continue to grow over those of 2014 and Medium Duty truck sales remain solid for the month of November 2015.”