The total Australian truck market for January 2017 reached 1920 units, up 21.2% on the first month of 2016, according to new data from the Truck Industry Council (TIC).
Interestingly, the result for January 2017 is exactly the same as recorded for January 2007 – a year that went on to become Australia’s best ever for heavy vehicle sales.
The result does however fall short of the all-time best January on record in 2008 by 327 units, when 2247 heavy trucks and vans were delivered.
The solid January result is a sign that the Australian new truck market may have finally shrugged off the years of struggle following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). All segments posted positive growth compared with January 2016.
The result for the heavy duty truck segment was solid but not spectacular, with 479 HD units sold, up 9.4%, or 41 units, on the first month in 2016.
However, when compared with the record pre-GFC January of 2008 where 841 trucks were sold, this result is down by 43%, showing that there is still quite some way to go for the HD market.
The medium duty segment was up with a total of 360 truck deliveries for January 2017 versus 350 units in January 2016, a slight gain of 2.9%. This result is 191 trucks short of the best ever January deliveries of 551 trucks achieved in 2008.
Light duty trucks were well into positive territory up 28.3% with 603 sales for the month, compared to 470 sales for the same month in 2016.
Full year light duty van sales in 2016 saw a fall when compared to the record breaking result of 2015.
However, if the January 2017 results are anything to go by, 2017 could be another record year for vans in Australia.
A total of 478 vans were sold in January, up 46.6% or 152 units for the month over January 2016. The previous best January for van sales was in 2016, so the January sales are a record all-time high.
Renault LCV posted a 34.5% sales increase in January 2017 compared with the same month last year.
“With 468 Renault LCVs delivered in January, we are well ahead of the same month last year and this comes on the back of a record tally of LCV deliveries in 2016 for the full year,” says Lyndon Healey, senior model line manager for Renault LCV.
“To continue to build on our success, we are launching a new state-of-the-art, fuel efficient and low emission turbo-charged petrol engine for Kangoo this month that drives through both manual and automated gearboxes,” Healey says.
Renault LCV is also launching two Crew versions of the Trafic this month, adding a second row of seats while retaining safety and much of the load carrying capacity of the three-seat van version.
President of TIC, the peak industry body for truck manufacturers and importers into Australia, Phil Taylor, says it is great to see strong start to sales across all segments in January, with the light end of the market leading the way.
“Most brands have started 2017 well and the momentum that we saw in the second half of 2016 appears to have continued into this year. Signs are positive but of course we still have 11 months to go,” Taylor says.
Tony McMullan, chief executive of TIC is a little more cautious.
“It is a healthy start to a new year for heavy vehicle sales and the momentum of the later part of 2016 looks to have carried through to 2017.”
“However January results can be somewhat unpredictable with the holiday season historically affecting December and January sales. The strong sales in January could be a result of some late December deliveries that were held up in bodybuilders, processing or stock delays from last year.”
“We will have to wait for the February results to have a clearer picture of how the market is shaping up for 2017,” McMullan concludes.
