A little heat escapes the medium trucks and light vans segments but record on track
The year that recent commercial vehicle sales are measured against, 2007, remains in peak total danger, despite some third-quarter softness, the Truck Industry Council (TIC) notes.
Though the TIC points out that sales remain solid in the heavy- and light-truck segments, medium truck and light van sales have weakened.
“Overall the third quarter result for 2018, with 10,695 truck and van sales, was the strongest third quarter result seen, breaking the 2007 quarter three mark by 675 vehicle sales,” it states in its market commentary for September.
“This saw the quarter up 11.1 percent over quarter three 2017. Year to date, the market is tracking up 16.5 per cent (up 4,353 vehicles) over the same period last year with a total of 30,665 heavy vehicles sold.
“But at the half year mark, sales were up 19.0 per cent over 2017, so it can be seen that the slowing of sales that occurred in the third quarter is dragging the year to date average back by almost 3 per cent.”
Read Tony McMullan’s take on the year’s sales trend, here
Light-duty vans again struggle with only 471 vans delivered for the month, down 3.3 per cent (-16 vans) over September 2017.
The segment posted 1,619 sales for July-September, up 159 vans over the same period in 2017, this was aided by bumper sales in the month of August this year.
The year-to-date van tally at the end of quarter three stands at 4,664 units, this is up over 2017 sales for the same period by 7.3 per cent (316 vans).
Medium truck sales were up by 16 per cent (837 trucks) over the same period in 2017, but most of that growth came from first-half sales.
Year-to-date medium duty truck sales stand at 6,086. The month of September saw a drop in deliveries over the same month last year, down by 1.7 percent (-11 trucks).
“Another solid quarter for the heavy and light truck segments, while sales in the medium-duty truck segment remain strong year-to-date despite slowing a little in quarter three,” TIC CEO Tony McMullan says.
“At the three quarter mark of the year van sales are up over the same point in 2017, but not to the same degree as we see in the truck segments.
“With just three months to go until year end, the industry is still on track hit a new market peak, though with signs that the market is slowing, that may not be the 40,000 plus mark that many were predicting at the halfway point of the year.”