Isuzu Trucks New Zealand says it is on target to maintain leadership in all three segments of the market for 2016.
The overall new truck market was down 7.1% for the month to 377 units from 406 vehicles, Isuzu lead, followed by Hino and Mitsubishi Fuso.
The used import trade fared better, up 11.2% to 159, Toyota leading on 59.
Isuzu Trucks saw 106 new trucks registered in June 2016 which general manager Colin Muir says: “Made us very happy.”
Muir says the team is working hard to ensure Isuzu Trucks retains the number one spot in light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks.
“We are comfortable that our projected sales outcome for 2016 will see us take the top spot again. Our new heavy-duty Giga product is going phenomenally well, and we are only hearing hugely positive feedback about the new model, nothing negative,” says Muir.
Muir says the recent National Fieldays at Mystery Creek showed buyer confidence remains high and that the economy is in good health.
“We were pleasantly surprised by the fact there was no slowdown in the level or the quality of the inquiry on the Isuzu Truck site this year at the National Fieldays,” says Muir.
“There’s a school of thought that says when the dairy industry catches a cold, the New Zealand economy sneezes, well I haven’t seen that, and I believe the economy can weather the occasional industry downturn,” he says.
“We’re feeling very bullish about the outcome, we are following up all of the sales inquiry and we think it will be a very fruitful show,” says Muir.
Muir says while the dairy downturn has seen a slowdown in truck sales in some of the regional markets, metro area markets remain robust and unaffected.
Some areas of primary industry such as horticulture and apiculture are booming and are driving new truck sales.
Muir says the increased production of export honey in the last three years has seen increased sales of the Isuzu N-Series 4×4 model to that specialist market, outselling its nearest competitor 2 to 1.
“The Isuzu NPS450 4×4 truck with a 7.5-tonne GVM sits in its little market bubble, which is borne out by the sales figures, as there’s quite a significant specification difference to its nearest competitors,” says Muir.
Hino Distributor’s new general manager Michael Doeg echoed Muir’s sentiments about the National Fieldays.
“In the last few years, sales have become more prevalent at Fieldays, where once it was a brand event, there is now an expectation we will sell trucks off the stand,” says Doeg.
“We did move some units during the event and were happy with the number of sales; we felt the enquiry was excellent and very genuine even though there were not a lot of people around, we have some solid leads for our team to follow up,” he says.
Doeg says June is the end of financial year for Hino Distributors, and it was good to finish strongly on 73 units.
UD Trucks general manager John Gerbich spent two days at the National Fieldays, and he felt fewer people were attending the event, but the quality of inquiry was much higher this year.
“All in all, we got the expected amount of sales generated from the stand,” says Gerbich.
“The quality of inquiry was excellent this year, and the Quon-based Horsebox we had on the site created much interest amongst visitors,” he says.
Gerbich says UD Trucks is tracking ahead of the brand’s sales targets for 2016.
“Our specialty is the medium-duty segment and the lower end of the heavy-duty segment, and we’re very happy with our sales numbers given the limited model line-up within the UD range,” says Gerbich.
“There are plans to increase the number of models in our line-up including the introduction of an 8×4 model which we lost from the line-up due to an oversight,” he says,
“Development work is currently underway on an 8×4 replacement within the Quon range, but it will be some time away before we see the truck on the ground here, and I cannot confirm timing as yet,” says Gerbich.
