July registration figures show that Isuzu Trucks continue to grow it’s market share and volume in the face of declining sales for the other Japanese truck brands.
Isuzu Trucks New Zealand general manager Colin Muir says the market is up 88 units year-to-date versus the same time in 2014. Isuzu is up 103 registrations alone.
Looking at the official numbers in the last few months, Isuzu Trucks appears to be winning market share away from the other Japanese truck manufacturers, being Mitsubishi Fuso and Hino.
Volvo Trucks has also seen it year-on-year registrations decline as well, down 2 units from July YTD 2014.
Isuzu Trucks lead the overall heavy truck market in July 2015 with 91 registrations, and year-to-date it leads the market with 591 registrations. This is an increase of 103 units versus same time last year.
Hino was second overall in July 2015 with 56 registrations, and a year-to-date registration figure of 374. Year-to-date Hino has sold 217 fewer trucks than Isuzu and 35 less than the same period in 2014.
Fuso was third in July 2015 with 47 registrations, and year-to-date has sold 323 units. It is down some 268 registrations versus Isuzu, and 9 units than the same period last year.
Mercedes-Benz was fourth in July 2015 with 34 units which was a better result than in the same period in 2014 when it saw 27 registrations. Year-to-date Mercedes-Benz is 20 units down on the same period last year.
UD saw 20 registrations in July 2015, and a year-to-date figure of 151 trucks. It has seen its year-on year registrations increase by 12 units, but trailing Isuzu by 440 units.
Volvo sold 14 units in July 2015 and year-to-date it has 165 registrations. Volvo has seen its year-on-year sales decline by 2 units from the same period last year.
Isuzu Trucks New Zealand general manager Colin Muir says based upon the performance so far this year, his gut feeling is that the registrations of new trucks in 2015 will finish on the same number as 2014.
“There won’t be any further growth in the market, but nevertheless its still a good number and will be a very strong result,” he says
“The number of monthly truck registrations year-on-year were down in March, May, June, and July, so in four out of the last five months, there has been a clear indication that the overall market is cooling off.
“Everything which we order from the factory currently, we are selling, which is fantastic for stock turn but a bit more difficult for clients who need either an urgent replacement or need to put an additional new truck on for a new contract,” says Muir.
“Its no longer the case in this market that you can grab a stock unit off the yard and get it straight into the bodybuilder, because the stock as such, is already spoken for, and the bodybuilders are heavily booked already.”
Muir attributes the continuing success of Isuzu Trucks to the breadth and high specification of the Euro V range available across all three market weight segments, particularly the new GIGA series which introduced another nine variants to the over 23,000kg GVM market.
DIESELtalk asked Muir for his personal opinion on why was Isuzu Trucks winning market share from the other Japanese brands.
“I’ve been personally quite vocal for many years that if all of the competing Japanese products were all on a level playing field in terms of specification and emissions compliance, then we would see a more even market result,” he says.
“We went to Euro 4 and then Euro 5 compliance as soon as we possibly could from 2007, and therefore Isuzu customers made the cultural shift to smarter and more complex technology and a more highly specified truck, a lot earlier than some of our competitors,” says Muir.
“Other competitors continued with US04 emission trucks right up to June 2014 when they became obsolete, and one has continued to market a US04 vehicle alongside a Euro 5 product.
“You cannot, in my opinion, consolidate a message to the customers when you have two different emissions systems in one product range,” says Muir.
“We need healthy truck brands in the market, especially the Japanese brands.”
“We took the decision more than seven years ago to move with the emissions standards and create a fair and level playing field. I felt if we did that, then we would hit our straps in the market, and we have, the figures speak for themselves,” he says.
“Certainly the cost to buy may have increased around 20%, I would think, but when setting out with this strategy we chose to absorb some of the costs ourselves and didn’t push the retail price up,” says Muir.
“Our strategy has been to drive the message that Isuzu Trucks has market leading technology and features for a Japanese brand, and it has paid off.”
