The Australian heavy commercial market has again dipped after sales numbers for the month of September were released by Truck Industry Council’s T-Mark service this week.
Compared with September 2024 last month’s total was down almost 15 per cent with a total of 3878 sales for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, or 668 down o the same month last year.
It comes after several months of softening sales, with the industry having had three record years leading up to this year’s downturn.
The year to date figures show that this time last year there had been 38255 heavy vehicles sold in the first nine months of 2024, while the opening nine months this year has seen 33727 trucks and vans registered, a drop of 11.8 per cent year on year.
Overall market leader was, as per usual, Isuzu, which registered 1077 trucks in September, marginally off the 1097 sold in 2024, but still a strong showing from the perennial number one brand.
While Hino has warned of tough times ahead for the brand, given the supply issues it has signalled and it is expecting, but so far the slump has not yet hit Hino’s sales figures, with the Toyota brand shifting 412 trucks in September, just five trucks ahead of what it sold in September last year, but still ahead all the same.
Paccar heavy duty brand Kenworth again beat Daimler’s Fuso brand for third place overall, with the big K registering 317 trucks in September, five units more than the higher volume Fuso brand.
Although Kenworth finished the month in third it was 17 per cent down on the brands September 2024 numbers.
Fifth place overall fell to Volvo with 197 trucks registered in September, almost 100 units down on its September 2024, and well behind its heavy duty rival Kenworth.
Behind Volvo Iveco was sixth with 124 registrations, while Scania was seventh overall with 92 trucks for the month, while Mercedes was eighth with 79, just ahead of Mack with 73 trucks and Fiat which rounded out the top ten overall.
As mentioned Kenworth was highest selling heavy duty brand, again totally outdistancing rival Volvo, with 316 heavy duty sales joining the brands one medium duty registration, compared with Volvo’s 197 heavies.
While Isuzu outdistanced Volvo n heavy duty during the middle months of the year , the Swede easily beat the Japanese brand in September which saw Isuzu register 163 heavy duty models.
Scania was next best in the top sector with 96 trucks, just ahead of Fuso with 89 trucks, Mack with 73, DAF with 61, Mercedes with 56, UD with 43 and Hino rounding out the top ten in heavy duty with 35 units.
In medium duty Isuzu ruled the roost again capturing exactly 50 per cent of the sector with 254 medium registrations, almost double Hino’s 138 registrations in second place for the month.
Fuso was well back in third place with 89 medium duty registrations, while relative newcomer Hyundai was a distant fourth in the sector with 9 medium duty trucks for the month. Behind that was DAF with seven, Benz with six medium duty machines, while UD and DAF each sold two and Kenworth one to round out the sector’s sales figures.
The figures for medium duty in September were 201 units or 28.3 per cent down on the same month last year.
In light duty Isuzu actually sold more trucks for the month, compared with the same time last year, registering 660 of its new N Series, well ahead of the 540 it moved in September last year. This despite the fact that the overall light duty sales numbers were down by 3.3 per cent or 44 trucks on the same time in 2024.
Behind Isuzu’s 540 was Hino, a distant second with 239 light duty machines, whiue Fuso was third with 134 tiddlers.
Iveco’s 94 light duty sales of its Daily cab chassis trucks enabled the Italian brand to lead a horde of fellow European makers, including Fiat with 65, Renault and Volkswagen with 25 each, and Mercedes with a lowly 17 Sprinter cab chassis models.
Hyundai sold 13 of its Mighty light duty models and Foton Mobility moved five of its battery electric models, ahead of LDV with four registrations and Ford with two Transits rounding out the light duty sales table.
In TIC’s recently initiated Alternative Fuel truck sector, Hino topped the list with 18 of its Diesel hybrids registered in September, while next best was Volvo with nine registrations of its battery electric models and Foton Mobility with five of its battery electric models. Fuso registered four of its eCanters, while Mercedes Benz sold one of its eActros machines, to round out the alternative fuel truck tally in September.
Ford was the dominant force in heavy van sales in September, ahead of the launch of an updated Transit range, with 239 registrations to top the sector ahead of normal number one, Mercedes-Benz and its newish Chinese rival, LDV, both of which registered 179 van for the month.
Ford also registered two of its new battery electric powered Transit vans, while back with conventionally ICE powered vans, Renault registered 106 Masters, Fiat with 70 Ducatos, while Volkswagen was close behind on 68 Crafters and Iveco rounded out the sector tally with 26 Dailys.
The van sector suffered a big drop in sales compared with the same month last year, with this September’s 866 being down a whopping 34.7 per cent on last September’s 1327 van sales.
With the final quarter still ahead, the market’s lag of 4528 units on last year’s YTD tally means there is unlikely to be any records set in the heavy market for 2025.
