December and fourth quarter gains may be a portent for new year
The Truck Industry Council (TIC) holds out hope that the stronger second half of calendar 2014 will sow the seeds of sustained growth this year.
Looking at December 2014 in isolation, the TIC notes the total truck market of 2,830 units was 6.1 per cent up on December 2013.
This was “the strongest post Global Financial Crisis (GFC) result for a December, giving some hope that business confidence is on the way back up and that we could expect stronger truck sales in 2015”.
The heavy-duty, medium-duty and light-duty truck segments all posted good gains for December, with both medium- and light-duty segments posting double digit gains of 16 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively, while Heavy Duty was up 5.5 per cent over December 2013 results.
“In all the 2014 finish is about what we expected,” TIC CEO Tony McMullan.
“Consumer confidence has been low all year while business performance and investment has been patchy at best and with coal and iron ore prices approaching a five year low, the mining sector is particularly slow.
“If you consider that truck sales were well down on 2013 results for the first two quarters of 2014, the recovery of the market in the third and particularly the fourth quarters was quite heartening.
“We can only hope that these second half results will carry over into 2015 and we will see growth in new trucks sales.
“Without reasonable news sales growth in 2015 the average age of the Australian truck park will likely exceed 14 years.
“An old truck fleet is less productive, does not employ the latest safety technologies and of course has poorer environmental outcomes.
“TIC has long called for an incentive program that would see truck operators encouraged to replace the oldest trucks in their fleets with new vehicles.”
Fourth quarter sales of 8,319 units was some 501 vehicles, or 6.4 per cent, greater than for the same quarter of 2013.
In the heavy duty segment, this was 1,022 units for the month, up 53 units, or 5.5 per cent, over the December 2013 result, while medium duty sales of 653 units was 16 per cent higher than December 2013 and light duty was up 12.4 per cent.