Latest truck sales figures show slight recovery in deliveries but market is still volatile
By Gary Worrall
The latest truck sales figures released by ERG and the Truck Industry Council show while there is a slight recovery in deliveries, the market is still volatile and remains a shadow of the market of 12 months ago.
Kenworth and Isuzu remain the brands of choice for the majority of truck buyers, although Daimler Trucks brand Freightliner is a surprise third in the heavy duty category, behind Kenworth and Volvo.
Isuzu remains the leader in the medium and light duty classes, followed by Hino and Fuso, with the light duty class the only one to show a continued improvement against the previous month’s sales result.
The light duty van market also remained weak, while Mercedes topped the sales chart, ahead of Ford and FIAT, it was at the head of a small field, with just 280 units in total for the month.
Hardly surprising was the state of the market compared to 12 months ago when sales were nearing peak values before the collapse of the financial sector, with all four categories well down on April 2008.
Heavy duty sales were worst affected, dropping more than 35 percent compared to the previous year’s result, although medium duty was not much better, recording a drop of 30 percent on the 2008 result.
Light duty trucks and vans were the best insulated against the fall in sales, although light duty trucks still fell by 25 percent, while vans lost more than 15 percent of the 2008 figure.
While a number of factors are expected to come into play in coming weeks, including the 2008-09 Federal budget and the Queensland Truck and Machinery Show, until constrictions on new truck finance ease, few are predicting a rush back to the record levels of 2007 and 2008.