Truck sales climb slowly back towards respectability, with TIC figures showing slight increase in total market compared to 2011
Gary Worrall | August 6, 2012
Truck sales continue to climb slowly but surely back towards respectability, with the official delivery report issued by the Truck Industry Council showing a slight increase in the total market compared to 2011.
New truck and van deliveries for all market segments over 3,500kg during July 2012 are reported as 2,489 units compared to 2,405 units in July 2011. However, both of these pale in comparison to July 2008 when 3,065 deliveries were recorded.
Then, as now, Isuzu and Kenworth were the market leaders, with Isuzu delivering 778 units for the overall market lead in July 2007, while Kenworth decimated the heavy duty segment by handing over 254 trucks in the month.
Fast forward to July 2012 and, although still topping the sales sheets, Isuzu delivered 615 units. Kenworth is again comfortably ahead of its nearest rival with 161 deliveries.
Hino and Fuso retain the same overall market positions for 2012 as in 2008, although the delivery figures are significantly reduced. Hino handed over 351 trucks in July, while Fuso had 235 trucks roll out of dealerships in the same period.
Although strong for the current market, these numbers struggle against the last days of the gold rush in 2008 when deliveries were 504 units for Hino and 368 units for Fuso.
As if to reinforce the popularity of the Acco in the marketplace, and also the decline in overall volumes, Iveco was the sixth ranked truck in July 2008, as well as July 2012. The company had monthly deliveries of 195 units in 2008 and 145 in 2012.
The year-to-date market share for Iveco is 5.5 percent in 2008 and 2012, but the cumulative totals show the market decline. In 2008 Iveco’s market share equated to 1,163 deliveries for the year, while in 2012, 5.5 percent comes from 921 deliveries.
The van segment shows greater resilience between 2008 and the current period, with deliveries in the over 3.5-tonne division almost static, decreasing slightly from 339 units in 2008 to 314 units in 2012.
Mercedes-Benz grew sales from 128 units in 2008 to 157 units in 2012.
The big loser was Ford, slipping from 125 units in July 2008 to 44 units in the current year, while Volkswagen moved to second overall with 57 units in 2012, compared to 20 units and fifth place in 2008.
Despite the market compression between 2008 and 2012, it is not all bad news. Western Star, Scania, Mack and Freightliner all recorded increases in delivery volumes.
Mack is the biggest winner, growing from 40 units to 75 in the current year, closely followed by Freightliner (41 in 2008 versus 70 in 2012), while Western Star (71 in 2008 compared to 80 in 2012) and Scania (44 in 2008 as opposed to 45 in 2012) also recorded increases.
