The Truck Industry Council (TIC) is celebrating a record breaking year for Australia’s heavy vehicle sales. The new all-time sales record was broken in 2024, with 51,277 units sold.
In an increase of 3,520 units, or 7.4 per cent, compared to 2023, it’s the third straight year the new sales record has been set for heavy vehicle sales in Australia.
A key reason behind this historic number is the growth of the market in 2024, with TIC capturing two new truck and van brands in the LDV Deliver 9 and the Peugeot Boxer last year. While these two brands have been selling commercial vehicles above 3.5t GVM in Australia for a few years now, prior to 2024 they chose not to share their sales data.
TIC has captured all sales from January 2024 in the T-Mark sales results for these two brands and this has added 3,010 additional sales in 2024 for brands that were not captured in T-Mark in 2023.
The vast majority of these vehicles, 2,872, are vans, with a further 138 being light duty trucks.
Without these additions, the record would still have been broken, except only by 510 vehicles, or 1.1 per cent.
“It was pleasing to see truck sales hold up well in 2024 and van sales strengthen to record levels,” TIC CEO Tony McMullan says.
“This despite challenging economic conditions throughout 2024 in Australia. It was equally pleasing to see a new annual new truck and van sales record that exceed the 50,000 mark for the first time ever.
“The 40,000 barrier was only broken relatively recently in 2018 and despite the protracted global COVID supply chain disruptions, heavy vehicle sales in Australia continue to set new records. The 2024 result of 51,277 sales has surpassed industry expectations, particularly given the above mentioned economic headwinds.
“While these record sales numbers in 2024 were set with the inclusion of a couple of van brands who had not previously shared their sales data with TIC, 2024 was a record year for heavy vehicle sales even if these brands were not included, with a tally of 48,267 bettering the previous record of 47,757 vehicles set in 2023.”
MORE OWNERDRIVER TRENDING STORIES:
- December TOTM: AKV Haulage’s tribute truck
- Historic funding announced for the Bruce
- Pocket rocket behind the wheel of custom designed K200
- Hawk Logistics acquires Farragher Logistics
- Western Truck Group acquires new truck centre
- Followmont Transport announces new CEO
Total trucks
Overall, the year belonged to Isuzu, with the major brand more than doubling the next best to finish with 13,402 sales for the year. It finished comfortably ahead of the second placed Hino with 5,075 sales, while Fuso (3,827) beat out Kenworth (3,774) narrowly to claim third. Volvo wasn’t far behind with 3,193, opening a gap from a trio of close finishers that included IVECO (1,891), Mercedes-Benz (1,759) and Scania (1,459). Mack (959) wasn’t far off surpassing 1,000 truck sales for 2024, while UD Trucks (896) and Fiat (822) both had strong years. DAF was the only other brand to pass 500 sales with 629, as MAN (420), Hyundai (359) and Renault (348) all remained consistent. The next bracket of brands include Freightliner (266), Western Star (234), LDV (138), Ford (110) and Volkswagen (102), while Dennis Eagle (99), Foton Mobility (68) and SEA Electric (12) wrapped up the market for 2024.
Heavy duty
In the heavy duty truck segment, 1,381 units for December 2024 was down compared to December 2023 results, as the market began to soften after a lofty year. Overall, the market recorded 17,152 sales for 2024.
Heavy duty trucks continue to make up the largest slice of the Australian heavy truck and van market, accounting for 33.4 per cent of all heavy vehicles sold in 2024. It remains comfortably ahead of the light duty truck segment, which is at second place with a share of 28.4 per cent in 2024.
The heavy duty sector belonged to Kenworth in 2024, with the brand amassing 3,774 sales for the year to finish ahead of Volvo (3,115). Isuzu rose to claim a spot in the top three with 2,481 sales, while Scania (1,459) and Mercedes-Benz (1,076) also surpassed 1,000 sales for the year. Not far behind was Mack with 959 sales, with UD Trucks (803), Hino (795) and Fuso (736) all barely split. With the likes of DAF’s 595 sales capping off a productive year for the segment, there were plenty of positives.
Medium duty
The medium duty truck segment had slight growth over the course of 2024 when compared to 2023, despite December truck sales weakening. Following 706 sales in December, the decreased number still allowed the sector to have a major year of sales. In total, 8,132 medium duty trucks were sold in 2024.
The total number of 8,132 medium truck sales in 2024 eclipsed the 2023 mark by 128 trucks, or 1.6 per cent. While up on 2023 and 2022 sales, it still couldn’t surpass 2007’s peak of 9,923 medium duty truck deliveries.
In 2024, medium duty truck sales accounted for just 15.9 per cent of new heavy vehicles sold in Australia, almost half of the MD segment’s peak of 30.9 per cent set in 2001.
There were no surprises that Isuzu was the runaway winner last year, finishing on 4,116 sales. Hino was a comfortable second with 2,371 sales, with Fuso (1,027) making up the podium. A major gap opened up, with IVECO finishing fourth with 149 sales and Hyundai coming in fifth with 137. These were the only five brands to reach more than triple figures in annual sales as the remaining seven brands all contributed in a consistent year.
Light duty
The light duty segment had slowing sales in 2024 after coming off record sales in 2022 and near record sales in 2023. Falling by 10 per cent, or 1,608 trucks, compared to 2023, 14,558 light duty trucks were delivered in 2024.
Overall, the light duty truck segment accounted for 28.4 per cent of all heavy vehicle sales in the past year.
Isuzu was once again at the top of the table in this market, finishing with 6,805 sales for 2024. It was comfortably more than double ahead of the next best, which went to Fuso and its 2,064 sales. Hino narrowly trailed Fuso with 1,909 sales, while IVECO was the next best with 1,353. From there, Fiat (822) and Mercedes-Benz (617) both recorded productive years in the segment, with the remaining six brands all ensuring the light duty market continued to produce.
Light duty vans
The light duty van segment was impacted by LDV and Peugeot’s sales being included for the first time in 2024. The two brands, mainly directed by LDV, accounted for 25.1 per cent of the increased sales in the van segment for 2024.
The van segment is still rebounding from the poor sales results seen during and after COVID, with 11,435 vans above 3.5t GVM being sold in Australia in 2024. This is a 90 per cent, or 5,417 vehicle increase from 2023, with 25.1 per cent of these coming from LDV and Peugeot.
Without these additions, the segment still had 8,563 sales in 2024, up 42.3 per cent or 2,545 vans from 2023.
In December, 926 vans saw the segment finish the year with momentum, with vans making up 22.3 per cent of the Australia’s new heavy vehicle market in 2024 as part of a new record.
Mercedes-Benz maintained its leading position in the market with 3,327 sales for the year, with newcomer LDV not far behind on 2,837. Renault (1,810) and Ford (1,563) both rounded out the top four, with Volkswagen (712), Fiat (685) and IVECO (466) all finishing ahead of Peugeot (35).
Despite these record new truck sales, TIC expresses concern that the average age of Australia’s truck fleet is much older than that of Europe and North America.
“An old truck fleet is not conducive to improved safety, public health and environmental outcomes for our society,” McMullan says.
“Moving into an election year in 2025, we must consider what more can be done by both industry and particularly government, to reduce the age of our nation’s truck fleet.”
Subscribe to the weekly Owner//Driver newsletter here.