Last year’s July nearly 400 units behind as boom progresses
Australia’s surging commercial vehicle sales year shows little sign of abating, with the start of this financial year up on last July’s total.
July 2017 saw 2,951 trucks and vans sold, 393 units behind this July, with then-year-to-date (YTD) total of 19,742, a terrific total for that time, 3,572 behind this YTD of 23,314, Truck Industry Council (TIC) T-Mark statistics show.
Of course, on a month-on-month basis, the usual post-end-of-financial-year slump was again in evidence, coming in at 887 below, compared with last year’s 928.
But most truck manufacturers can afford to care less, especially those with monthly sales usually in three figures.
Mercedes-Benz had an even July comparison with 130, as did DAF with 33, but MAN slipped from 101 to 78, along with Western Star (30 to 28).
Read how July figures looked this time last year here
In the heavy-duty segments, it might be remembered that Volvo pipped Kenworth for top spot the previous July by just one truck (154-153).
Kenworth has since ensured it was a one-off and last month, at 218, held a reasonably comfortable 46 unit lead over its persistent competitor.
Benz executives will have found solace in staying above 100 units this July at 103 while looking back to last July’s 66.
A little bit less sanguine, perhaps, will be those from Scania, down nine to 63, Iveco, down 20 to 33, MAN, down 10 to 39 and Freightliner, down six to 24.
Overall, though, total segment demand was health 79 units up for the month YOY.
Less good news came from the medium-duty front, with the month’s YOY performance down 27 units.
Only Hino held its own, unchanged at 182 units, though there might be some solace on the calendar year effort, with YTD still up — 4,710 against 3,974 previously.
More joy is to be had amongst light-duty trucks, with this July’s 1,195 up from last July’s 939 and YTD at 7,216 against the previous 9,390.
As the fat increases indicate, all major truck-makers had healthy increase, led by traditional segment leaders the Japanese — Isuzu (439-379, 2,689-2,623), Hino (238-179, 1,523-1,212) and Fuso (257-163, 1,439-1,246).