The Australian Truck market has suffered its largest dip in recent months, with a big fall in overall sales for the month of April, due to a variety of factors weighing heavily on the numbers, including the economic headwinds, interest rates and the imminent Federal election.
Total heavy vehicle sales in Australia in tallied at 3416 trucks and heavy vans, down a whopping 15.5 per cent on the April result last year and with market leader Isuzu dropping below a 1000 units for the month for the first time since January.
Total sales in the truck and van market tracked 627 units on the same month last year with all sectors, except heavy vans recording lower sales than this time in 2024.
Isuzu sold 992 trucks in April with the number one maker in the middle if runout and the launch of its all new range , while the nearest competitor was Hino which sold a total of 340 units for the month or just a shade over a third of what Isuzu sold, while fellow Japanese brand Fuso sold just 242 units for the month, which actually placed it fourth behind heavy duty titan Kenworth, which sold 271 units in April.
Volvo took fifth outright in the sales race with 184 units in April, falling well short of heavy duty rival Kenworth again, but was the only other brand to break the three figure barrier, the next best being Iveco with just 88 sales in April. Scania slotted in next with 70 of its heavies in what was a relatively quiet month for the other Swede, while even Mercedes Benz had an ordinary result for the month, conjuring just 69 units for April, with only 12 of its recently popular Sprinter based trucks, one medium and 56 heavies. Fiat had another good month for its Ducato van based cab chassis light trucks selling 59 in April to be eighth overall and six units ahead of Mack on 53 rounding out the top ten.
Kenworth again dominated Heavy well clear of its opponents, particular Volvo, both in monthly and year to date tallies, with he Paccar brand moving 271 units in April. Isuzu was again the story in the heavy sector with 208 sales to be second in the segment, outpointing Volvo’s 183 units by 25 trucks for April. The result sees Kenworth leading the sector year to date with 1097 heavy sales for the first four months, while Isuzu is now second on 792 and Volvo trailing in third on 752 year to date. Behind the leading trio in heavy duty came Scania with 70, Hino with 69 and Mercedes with 56, while sister brand Fuso scored 54 sales in April. Mack with 53, DAF on 46 and Ud with 36 rounded out the top ten.
Overall Heavy duty sales of 1110 was down 28 per cent on the 1550 trucks sold in the same month last year.but still well clear of its Japanese opponents with Hino having a reasonable month in the medium class , selling 213 trucks.
In Medium sector Isuzu dominated another falling sales sector. There were 600 trucks registered in medium in April down 8.9 per cent on the same month last year when the tally was 659 units were registered .
Isuzu streeted the field with 297 mediums for the month, down on the 347 it sold last April, Hino was the next best with 213 sales in the sector in April well ahead of Fuso which posted an unusually low tally of just 65 medium duty trucks for the month. Next best behind the Japanese triumvirate was Hyundai with 10 mediums in April while behind the Korean was MAN with five units, UD with four, Iveco with three and Mercedes, Volvo and DAF each with one medium sold.
The light duty sector was down 24 per cent on the 1148 trucks sold in April in 2024, with just 872 light duty registered in April.
Isuzu ruled the sector once again with 487 light duty sold in April , close to four times the number sold by nearest rival, Fuso , which was second with 123 sales in the sector.
The supply situation is starting to bite for Hino which slipped down the light duty rankings to be fifth overall with 58 units in April. That put it behind Iveco on 61 and Fiat on 59 light duty models, surely the first time the Euro brands have outsold Hino in decades.
Behind Hino in fifth was Renault with 41 sales , Hyundai with 13 , Mercedes with 12 Sprinter based light trucks, Ford with eight, LDV with seven, Foton Mobility with two and VW with one.
In heavy vans Mercedes bounced back to lead the sector with 318 Sprinters sold in April, more than double that off Chinese rival LDV with 156, while Renault with 129 and Ford with 125 van sales claiming fourth in the sector
As mentioned van sales was the only sector to improve compared with its April 2024 result, with the sector recording 834 van sales in April, up 22 per cent on the same month last year.
With a new government, a degree of certainty, the prospect of falling interest rates and a pick up in business confidence it remains to be seen if the if the market can come back in the final half of the year
