Heavy duty Benz and Kenworth lead Western Star and DAF in bucking trend
A pause for breath or a turning point? The market has two more months to see before things go quiet at start of the new financial year.
While it is true that April’s total of 3,151 is lower than March’s 3,447 but higher than February’s 3,001, there was a similar pattern last year when the figures were 2,517, 2,962 and 2,276, Truck Industry Council (TIC) T-Mark statistics show.
Entirely symmetrical was 2016 when it was 2,522, 2,669, 2,522.
Thus, any early calls on the sales boom’s end look premature.
A largish totals dip signals a lot of sales falls but not for Mercedes-Benz, which bucked the total-sales trend by 14 units to 151.
Much of that was thanks to the heavy-duty segment, where Benz leapt from 71 to 115, only outdone by heavy duty market leader Kenworth, up to 250 from 212.
Both have had upgrades to lure buyers for several months, which, along with an overall rise in market attraction, have helped.
Scania, which followed the trend from 94 to 69, will expect to pick up momentum in due course with its new generation.
Interestingly, there was resilience shown among the heavy duty battlers.
Western Star was on the rise, up from 27 in March to 35, as was DAF, from 38 to 44.
Indeed, having shed only 18 units to 1,146, this segment held up very well.
Not so medium-duty trucks, from 742 to 674, and here falls were across the board.
Against the experience of the recent past, light-duty trucks actually fell to lower level in April than it recorded in February, by nine units to 927, after threatening four figures in March.
Even so, some of the lesser lights here were also up, month on month.
These include Renault (18 to 37), Fiat (38 to 43) and Hyundai (21 to 4).