The Australian commercial vehicle market continued its ever so gentle softening in June, with registration figures showing a 5.2 per cent drop on the same month in 2024 as the long tail of trucks coming out of build catches up with the easing demand and order intakes.
The figures were, as usual, recorded by the Truck Industry Council’s T-Mark sales statistics.
A total of 4888 new trucks and heavy vans were delivered in June compared with the 5160 registered in June last year, with every sector except vans dropping volume year on year.
Naturally Isuzu led the way and dominated the overall market with 1268 deliveries in June to take 25.9 per cent of total sales, down 96 trucks or about 7 per cent on its June 2024 registration results.
Behind Isuzu, rival Hino had a better monthly result than it had achieved so far this calendar year, registering 487 trucks to take 10 per cent share of the overall market. Soon to be joint venture partner Fuso enjoyed a welcome boost over its lack lustre monthly results so far this year, scoring its best result YTD, with 365 trucks registered in June. However both Hino and Fuso results were off what they sold in June 2024, with Hino down 14.2 per cent or 81 trucks on last year, and Fuso off 19.4 per cent or 88 trucks compared with June last year.
Heavy duty kings, Kenworth had a strong month moving 338 trucks for 7.5 per cent of the overall market, as well as leading the heavy duty sector, ahead of its Swedish rival Volvo. The Swedish brand had a better result in June than it had it had in recent months, having been out sold in heavy duty by Isuzu for most of the year so far. It bounced back to register 244 sales in June, with all but seven of them heavy duty models.
Volvo’s fifth place in the overall market put it 13 units ahead of Iveco in sixth, while Mercedes Benz with 135 trucks and Scania with 133 units were seventh and eighth overall, with Mack on 61 and UD on 60 trucks rounding out the top ten for June.
As mentioned above, Kenworth dominated heavy duty, capturing 22.8 per cent of the heavy sector, and now has a strong overall lead in the year to date numbers, having sold 1655 heavy trucks this year. That puts it more than 400 units clear of second placed Isuzu, which has sold 1191 heavies this year, Volvo sits in third with 1167 heavies sold since January, with hopes that the sales boost it received in June continuing, enabling it to defend its long held runner up status in the heavy sector.
Isuzu, after several months bettering Volvo’s tally in heavies, had to settle for third in the top sector with 208 sales for the month. Scania was next best with another strong performance on 133 heavy sales in June, while Mercedes-Benz was fifth with 103 heavy sales for the month.
Fuso was next best in sixth with 82 heavies and Iveco had a very strong result in the top sector with 81 trucks, its best result all year, almost four times its average heavy duty result for each month up to May.
Hino with 64, Mack with 61 and UD with 55 trucks, rounded out the top ten in heavy duty sales for June. Heavy duty was down 18.7 per cent or 335 units on the June 2024 result.
In medium duty Isuzu capture 45.5 per cent of the sector with 348 sales, while Hino dealers made hay while the sun shone for them, selling a strong 267 of ts 500 models, ahead of the supply of medium duty models easing to a trickle later this year, and through the opening months of 2026.
Fuso sold just 96 medium duty models in June, well behind its Japanese rivals, while a surprise fourth in the sector, albeit a long way behind, was Hyundai with 14 medium duty registrations.
No other brand broke double figures , with Iveco registering nine mediums, and both Mercedes and MAN recording eight sales, ahead of Volvo on seven, UD on five and DAF on two, rounding out the top ten in the medium sector.
Medium duty was down 13 .8 per cent or 123 trucks on June 2024, underlining the overall decline year on year.
In the tiddler class, Isuzu won the class easily, with an increase in sales on its June 2024 result. The brand delivered 712 trucks last month for a whopping 53.2 per cent share of the sector, up 26 units or 3.7 per cent on its result this time last year.
Fuso again bettered its soon to be partner Hino in light duty in June with the Canter recording 187 deliveries to the 156 Hino 300 Series for the month. The result puts Fuso 417 trucks ahead of Hino in the year to date tally across the light duty sector.
Iveco continues to make ground with its Daily based light duty truck models, moving to within 15 units of beating Hino in the sector, with the European brand selling 141 units in June.
Renault was fifth in the sector with 48 registrations of its Master light truck, ahead of fellow Euro brands, Fiat with 26 Ducatos and Mercedes with 24 of its Sprinters. Then came Hyundai with 15 Mightys and LDV with 14 Deliver9 models, Ford with five Transits and Foton Mobility with four of its battery electric light trucks.
Mercedes continued its growing tussle with Chinese rival LDV in the van sector in June. Mercedes won the class with 376 Sprinter registrations , just 37 ahead of LDV’s tally of Deliver9s.
Behind them Ford and Renault had a tight tussle, with the Blue Oval taking third with 225 Transit vans and Renault just two units behind with 223 Masters registered for June.
Iveco was next best with 76 Daily sales, ahead of VW with 39 Crafters and Fiat with 29 Ducatos and Peugeot brining up the rear with just five of its heavy vans for the month.
With Hino heading into what some are describing as a ‘truck free zone’, thanks to the lack of supply of Euro 6 compliant 300 and 500 series models and a prediction of continued market softening, it s unlikely 2025 will prove a record year for commercials in Australia, making it the first time in three years that the sales record hasn’t been broken.
