As the Australian truck market heads into the second half of 2026 the sales situation continues to come under pressure with July sales volumes down just over eight per cent on the same month in 2025.
This follows the publication today of the Truck Industry Council’s monthly T-Mark commercial vehicle sales figures for July.
The year to date tally of commercial truck and van sales for the year so far indicates that the market is down 12.7 per cent year on year or 3,330 units, making everyone in the industry sit up and take notice.
As the market correction continues apace the pressures of inflation, interest rates and fuel prices are all combining to provide head winds for the industry.
Market leader Isuzu registered 852 trucks in July, representing a 24 per cent or 258 unit drop on its July 2025 result when it sold 1072 trucks.
Isuzu’s closet rival Hino also had a big drop, down 105 units or 26.5 per cent on its July 2025 result, certainly thanks in part to the brands well publicised supply issues but also as a part of the overall market downturn, with the brand 291 trucks compared with 396 this time last year
As Daimler prepares to off load its Fuso distributorship, due to competition law requirements, the global truck leader’s Japanese brand had a minor surge registering 284 trucks in July, closing to within six units of Hino to claim third overall in the market. The result also signalled a 15 per cent rise on its result in July last year.
Heavy duty king Kenworth was fourth in the overall standings registering 217 units, all of them heavy, a drop of 16.2 per cent or 42 trucks on this time last year and placing it 39 units ahead of Swedish rival Volvo in heavy duty. Volvo also registered six medium duty models bringing its monthly sales total to 184 and placing it fourth in the overall market .
Volvo’s result was almost line ball with its July 25 result, in fact just one truck down on its 2025 tally, which was a good result amidst the downward market trend.
Mercedes Benz was sixth in the overall market in July with a total of 173 sales with the German brand selling 93 of its heavy duty Actros models along with just three medium duty models and 77 of light duty Sprinter based cab-chassis models.
Iveco had a reasonable month by comparison with recent times, although its haul of 91 trucks in July was well down on the 191 it sold in June.
The top ten overall was rounded out by Fiat with 84 of its light duty Ducato based cab chassis models, Scania with a meagre 70 of its heavy duty trucks for the month, tying with UD also on 20.
As mentioned Kenworth’s hold on the heavy duty crown remains solid with the Paccar brand topping the segment with its 217 registrations, again bettering Volvo’s 178 , this time by 39 heavy duty models, while Isuzu was third in the heavy segment registering 141. The heavy duty segment seemed not too badly affected by the overall downturn with the sector only dropping 19 trucks compared with July last year, a drop of just 1.6 per cent to a total of 1099 trucks for the sector for the month
In medium duty Isuzu ran away and hid once more registering 264 trucks in the sector to capture a massive 62.3 per cent share of the segment. Its nearest rivals could not even break three figures with Fuso taking second with 72 sales and supply affected Hino just 40 trucks for the month.
Behind them Iveco with 18 trucks and Korean brand Hyundai with 11 were the next best, while everyone else finished with single figures starting with Volvo on six, Foton (ICE models) on two and DAF and Dennis Eagle with one truck each.
The overall medium duty segment sold just 424 trucks in July down 20.1 per cent or 107 trucks on the sector total this time last year, while year to date medium duty is off 35.1 per cent on the tally for the first seven months of 2025.
The tiddler class saw Isuzu again out in front with 424 registrations for the month although this was a significant drop of 34.6 per cent or 217 units on the 626 trucks it sold in July last year.
Still for all of that, the market leader captured just over 41 per cent of the light duty sector exactly 250 units clear of nearest rival Hino with 159 trucks for 16.2 per cent market share in the sector.
Fuso finished a close third behind Hino, registering 147 of its Canters. While Hino was down 18 units on its July 25 tally, Fuso was up 30 trucks on its tally last year, a 25.6 per cent improvement.
The European can based cab chassis light duty truck offerings crowded in behind the three dominant Japanese models with Fiat in fourth on 84 registrations, Mercedes on 77 and Iveco on 52.
It tails off pretty rapidly behind that with Chinese brand LDV capturing 19 registrations, battery electric powered Foton Mobility next with 17, Hyundai with 11, Foton (ICE models)with five and Ford with three.
The overall light duty sector for the month was down 19.2 per cent or 235 units from the tally of 1218 this time last year to the 983 registrations this year. Year to date the sector is down 10.5 per cent or 784 units to 6656 for the first seven months, compared with the 7440 light duty registered in the same period in 2025.
In Vans Mercedes Benz was the clear segment leader registering 276 of its Sprinter, almost line ball with the 277 it registered this time last year, giving the German brand 32.5 per cent share of the sector compared with Chinese rival LDV with 215 registrations and 25.3 per cent market share.
This time last year Mercedes had 36.3 per cent of the van sector and LDV sold 153 vans to take 20.1 per cent share, illustrating the growing importance of the brand in the van market.
The van sector was the only one to increase sales year on year in July, with the class registering 850 units this year compared with 763 for the same month last year, representing an 11.4 per cent gain year on year. However the tally for the first seven months of this year is down 5.5 percent or 346 units compared with last year.
Behind Benz and LDV Ford finished third selling 141 of its Transit models, with Fiat recording 79 Ducato sales , VW with 70 of its Crafters, Renault with 48 of its Masters and Iveco with a miserable tally of just 18 of its Daily vans.
There seems little impetus in the market to break the sales freefall, with many believing that forecasts for a market revival in 2027 may be a little optimistic.
