Consumer confidence returned to the truck market in June, with every segment showing growth
By Gary Worrall
A degree of consumer confidence returned to the truck market in June, perhaps encouraged by the Federal Government’s investment allowance for small operators, with every segment showing growth compared to the previous months.
In what may be the best pointer to a widespread recovery, orders for virtually every brand were up on previous months rather than being driven by individual manufacturers offering limited brand specials.
Kenworth maintained its popularity in the heavy segment with 158 units for the month.
However, Mack, Volvo and Freightliner all delivered over 100 units each, with Mack reaching 126 for the month.
Others to do well included Iveco (83) and Scania (74), while Hino (52) will be encouraged in comparison to arch-rival Isuzu (65), showing buyers are now looking beyond the traditional market leaders for new trucks.
Even International enjoyed a better month than previously with 35 trucks finding new homes, leaving the company just one unit shy of DAF for the calendar year.
The medium duty segment followed more traditional lines in June, with Isuzu (413) and Hino (241) ahead of the pack, with Fuso third (122). UD sold 65 units.
The balance of the sales were shared between the European manufacturers, with Mercedes-Benz and Iveco leading MAN and DAF, while Volvo failed to deliver a truck in the segment for the month.
In the light duty segment, Isuzu was the top-selling brand with 419 units, although Hino was not to be disappointed, delivering 308 units.
Fuso delivered 225 and FIAT’s heavy vans (31) were outsold by Ford (51). FIAT did, however, hang on to a slim lead in the calendar year sales.
Rounding out the division were Mercedes-Benz (29), Iveco (34) and Volkswagen (10), with a total of 1107 units finding new owners.
Ford was the top seller in the light duty van market with 332 units.
But Mercedes-Benz soled the most units for the year to date, with last month’s figure of 196 adding to 900 units sold for the year.
FIAT finished third for the month with 74 units, trailed by Volkswagen (40), Renault (44) and Iveco (23).