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Welcome truck sales bounce in usually strong June

Traditional end of financial year lift helps dispel some of the gloom

 

We are half way through the most disrupted calendar year since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), for sure – some might also point to the OPEC oil shock or even the Second World War.

And where does that leave us for June’s commercial vehicle sales?

Well, after seeing charts only pointing the wrong way for many months, it is time to draw a deep breath and take stock of the Truck Industry Council’s (TIC’s) T-Mark statistics.

Keeping in mind that June is usually a good month and July may fail to frank the form, it would be a cold heart that failed to be warmed by what looks a significant sales rebound.

Where once we were seeking ever-earlier comparative years and eyeing the post-GFC doldrums of 2014, we are now skipping to 2017 in the year- to-date (YTD) column – 16,448 now and 16,791 then.

Total June commercial vehicle sales come in at 4,620, compared with 2,621 in May, 2,302 in April and 2,605 in March, with the June 2017 figure at 3,879.


See how the market looked this time last month, here


In a bounce for its rivals as well, market leader Isuzu springs back into four figures, 470 units above May to 1,170 for total sales.

Hino jumps 325 units to 450, while Fuso leaps 178 to 450.

HEAVY DUTY

The 2017 comparison eases somewhat amongst the heavy horses, with this June at 1,134 and 2017’s at 1,250 and the YTD at 4,919 compared with 5,131.

But the rebound was strong, up 378 units to 1,134.

Volvo holds its recent ascendency against Kenworth, 210 to 185, the big Swede up 55 units and unfamiliar chaser up 86.

Volvo is also up YTD this year, 923 to Kenworth’s 818. In 2017, the positions were reversed at 762 to 886.

There were other big European moves, none larger than Mercedes-Benz, more than doubling May’s 56 to hit 122, one unit behind Isuzu, up only 14 units.

And Scania made sold ground on May, from 54 to 80, two behind Mack, which had five more units.

Mirroring Mercedes but on a smaller scale was UD, 30 to 79.

Good news also attended the difficult row that Freightliner hoes, which saw it rise to 25 from 14 in May.

MEDIUM DUTY

A weight rung down and the story is pretty similar, if not as widely shared.

The medium-duty segments June came in at 897 from 515 MOM, up significantly on 2017’s 743, though the YTD, at 3,265 was down against 2017’s 3,320.

Market leader Isuzu will be pleased by its 125 MOM unit rise to 348.

But not as much as Hino’s double plus effort from 154 to 334.

Both put more space from Fuso, up to 136 from 88.

LIGHT DUTY

The term “roaring back to life” could have been coined for the light-duty segments, which added 684 units MOM to 1,583. This was handily ahead of June 2017’s 1,233, though YTD, at 5,255, was behind on to 2017’s 5,451.

As to be expected, this is Isuzu’s turn to shine, up from 378 to 699 MOM.

Place getters Hino, 239 to 357, and Fuso, 163 to 277 also did well, while Iveco snapped at their heels, 47 to 119.

But the biggest mover if from a very low base, had a blue oval on it – Ford’s oversized van going from a solitary unit to 29 in just a few weeks.

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