The just released Truck sales numbers for February have showed a small rise compared with the same month in 2023, and while the overall monthly tally was ahead of the same time last year, and both heavy duty and medium duty numbers were up, light duty volume shrank.
February numbers, according to the Truck Industry Council’s T-Mark statistics, show that the industry registered 3592 trucks and heavy vans for the month 93 ahead of the tally for February 2023.
Isuzu topped the overall market, as would be expected from the perennial market leader, selling 1005 trucks in February to top the score sheets with 29.8 per cent overall share. Isuzu’s tally was 34 trucks down on its Feb. 23 result, while second placed Hino was slightly up on its results from 12 months ago. Hino registered 414 trucks for 11.5 per cent overall market share, 25 ahead of the same month last year.
Fuso was third in February taking 8.4 per cent market share with 303 trucks registered for the month
Heavy Duty numbers saw Kenworth assert its dominance registering 279 big trucks for the month to finish 28 trucks clear of its rival Volvo, and reclaim the number one sport in the top weight category. Kenworth’s result slotted it in to fourth in the overall market just ahead of Volvo.
Volvo had finished ahead of Kenworth in January, albeit by just five trucks, and pundits thought the Swedish maker was making another concerted run to the top of the heavy segment. Kenworth registered 279 trucks now has a 37 truck lead over Volvo, which sold 247 heavies in February, while Isuzu was third with an impressive tally of 201 trucks. Scania was fourth in Heavy with 108 units, although it was eight in overall market volume, as a result of Mercedes and Iveco both selling more light. And medium duty trucks for the month
Looking further down the Heavy segment numbers reveals Mercedes Benz and Mack equal on 79 heavy sales each, with a gaggle of brands all around the 50 mark in heavy sales, including Fuso with 62, UD with 54, Hino 49, Iveco and impressive 44,followed by DAF with 43, Freightliner 24, its US sibling Western Star with 21 and MAN with 14, while Dennis Eagle brought up the rear with just four registrations for the month.
Isuzu ruled the roost in Medium Duty registering 339 trucks for the month capturing a whopping 52.2 per cent share of the segment. The Isuzu result was 35 trucks ahead of its Feb 23 tally, while Hino had a strong result with 197 trucks for the month and 30.4 per cent market share. Hino’s medium duty result was 51.5 per cent better than its Feb 23 result.
Fuso had a disappointing result in Medium with 63 registrations and 9.7 per cent share of the segment. That result was a 32 per cent drop on its medium duty numbers in February last year when it sold 95 medium duty units for the month.
A surpise fourth in the medium sector was Korean brand Hyundai which registered 12 medium duty models for the month, its best performance in the sector ever. Iveco and Volvo registered eight medium trucks each, while DAF was next best with seven, ahead of UD with five, Mercedes and MAN with four each, while SEA Electric registered two medium duty models.
Light Duty was again down the result from February last year, with the sector total 233 units down on the registrations from 12 months ago. Isuzu led the sector with 510 light duty registrations, 97 trucks less than the same time last year. Isuzu still captured 48.7 per cent of the sector overall, while Fuso pipped Hino to be second in the segment. Fuso registered 178 light duty models in February, ten more than Hino, and is now almost 100 trucks ahead of its rival in the year to date tally.
Mercedes-Benz was fourth with 65 sales of its Sprinter cab-chassis trucks, just ahead of the similar Iveco Daily truck which tallied 59 units for the month, followed by Fiat with 29 Ducato trucks, while Hyundai and Renault both registered 13 light duty models. VW with seven, Foton Mobility with four and Ford with a single Transit cab-chassis rounded out the Light Duty sales for February.
In heavy Vans Mercedes-Benz topped the sales charts selling 248 Sprinter vans, capturing 41.7 per cent of the sector. Behind Benz came Renault with 154 Master vans, while Ford sold 69 Transits, VW sold 65 Master vans , Iveco 32 Dailys and Fiat 23 Ducatos.
Overall the van sector was up on the same month last year with a total of 588 vans registered for the month, 163 vans more than the same month in 2023.
With increasingly strong headwinds and plenty of economic turbulence, time will tell if the industry can maintain an advantage for the rest of 2024 as the quest for another record year is pursued.
