Revealed: Australia's top 10 selling trucks

Aussie-built trucks lead heavy-duty market but Isuzu still the stand-out performer

Judging by sales figures to the end of September, 2016 certainly won’t be remembered as a boom time for truck makers.

However, the good news is that the two biggest players in the premium heavy-duty category – Kenworth and Volvo – continue to manufacture or at least assemble their trucks in Australia.

What influence the ‘Aussie made’ factor has on customers’ buying decisions and actual sales volumes is difficult to quantify.

Yet it’s perhaps fair to assume that with Kenworth entrenched at number one in the heavy-duty contest and Volvo an increasingly close number two (with Brisbane-built corporate cohort Mack at number four), local engineering plays a significant role in tailoring trucks to Australian conditions and subsequently meeting the distinctive requirements of this market’s truck buyers.

Kenworth and Volvo are not, of course, the only brands putting trucks together in this country. Iveco continues to make and assemble a number of models led by the home-grown ACCO.

Of course, ACCO’s numbers are not what they once were and with Iveco holding just 5.1 per cent of the heavy-duty market up to the end of September, the brand’s performance is well short of inspiring.

Nonetheless, the sales of all locally built or assembled models from Kenworth, Volvo and Mack, and Iveco, amount to as much as 50 per cent of all the heavy-duty trucks sold in Australia.

Still, as the Truck Industry Council (TIC) recently commented, the heavy-duty sector continues to struggle for sales while down the weight scale, light and medium-duty markets are notching solid results.

According to TIC, the 2016 heavy-duty market “… is lagging 2015 results by 3.8 per cent with only 6947 heavy-duty trucks sold in Australia to the end of September this year”.

Meanwhile, the total market for trucks is actually tracking up 2.4 per cent over the same period last year.

At the end of September Kenworth’s place at the head of the heavy-duty pack stood at a formidable 20.7 per cent with Volvo in second spot on a healthy 16.2 per cent.

Volvo Group Australia also stacks up best in the contest for corporate supremacy with its three brands – Volvo, Mack and UD – holding a collective 26.3 per cent of the heavy-duty contest to the end of September with the Paccar pairing of Kenworth and DAF on 23.6 per cent.

However, the big achiever in the heavy-duty stakes is third placegetter and overall market leader Isuzu.

Along with its powerful 43.1 per cent leadership of the light-duty market and 38 per cent domination of the medium-duty sector, Isuzu up to the end of September also held a respectable 13.8 per cent of the heavy-duty category.

From there it’s a quick slide into single figures with Mack on 8.6 per cent, then a congested scrap for minor placings: Scania on 6.4 per cent, Freightliner 6.2, Iveco 5.1, Mercedes-Benz 4.5, Fuso 4.1, Western Star 3.8, Hino 3.0, DAF 2.9, MAN 2.1, UD 1.5, and Cat and Dennis Eagle with just 0.7 and 0.3 percent respectively.

Yet despite all the attraction and emphasis of the heavy-duty truck business, it’s the smaller end where the Australian market remains strongest and where Japanese brands continue to hold absolute domination.

Powerhouse. Isuzu remains comfortable leader of the total truck market. Strong heavy-duty result is due in large part to a range of six and eight-wheeler models tailored to Australian requirements.