November marked another massive month for truck registrations, with a near 20% jump year-on-year.
Registrations are up 19.4% to 541 trucks, from 453 a year ago. Year-to-date, the market has hit 5795 registrations from 4753 in 2016.
Isuzu was the clear market leader with 113 registrations, down 16.3% for a 20.9% market share.
Fuso was second on 61, up 35.6% for an 11.3% stake, followed by Hino on 56, up 51.4% for a 10.4% share.
Fiat was next on 51 units, mostly motorhomes, up 121.7% for a 9.4% share, and heavy truck specialist Volvo was fifth, up 112.5% to 34 units.
Volvo national sales manager for MTD Trucks NZ Clive Jones says the Kiwi market has shown “exceptional demand” and the country’s heavy truck market is well up on last year.
“To some extent, we forecast that demand but the level of growth has remained exceptionally strong and that continues to be the case as we head into the tail end of the year when demand traditionally softens,” he says.
“It’s always difficult to let sales go when we’re unable to deliver and we’ve certainly faced that situation a few times this year.
“On the upside though, we are grateful to the significant number of our customers who are pre-planning and making orders in advance, as well as the large number of new fleets who have joined the brand this year despite some long lead times.
“We have seen the growth right across the range. However, our high horsepower offering has seen the strongest increase, with 700 and 750hp leading the charge as more and more high productivity vehicles enter the national fleet.
“Trip times, fuel efficiency, driver comfort and safety have all contributed to the demand.”
Year-on-year light truck – 3500kg to 9000kg – registrations were up 3.4% to 183. With motorhomes included, Fiat was a surprise leader on 51, up 121.7% for a 27.9% share of the market.
Second for the month was Isuzu on 41, down 36.9% for a 22.4% market share, and in third was Fuso on 34, up 70% for 18.6% of the segment.
Mercedes-Benz was fourth on 19, followed by Hino on 18.
The medium-duty segment enjoyed a busy month, up 38.8% to 111 units. Isuzu led with 35 registrations, unchanged from November 2016, for a 31.5% segment share.
Hino was second for the month on 25, up 108.3% for a 22.5% share, followed by UD Trucks, up 155.6% to 23 for 20.7% of the trade.
Fuso took fourth place with 10, with MAN in fifth with six vehicles.
The big truck trade continues to grow, with the segment rising 37.3% for the month to 210.
Isuzu led with 36 trucks, up 5.9% for a 17.1% market share.
Kenworth was second on 31, up 138.5% for 14.5% of the segment, and Volvo third on 26, up 160% for a 12.4% market share.
Scania took fourth on 16, followed by DAF on 15.
Bus volumes fell during November by 14% to a total of 37.
Ford and Volvo tied for the top of the market, each with eight registrations and a 21.6% market share.
BCI was third with five, followed by Mercedes-Benz four and Factory Built two.
Strong tractor results
November was also a busy month for tractor deliveries, with registrations – not total sales, which are not all accounted for – up 22.5% to 250.
John Deere was the most popular brand on 84, up 33.3% for 33.6% of the market.
Massey Ferguson was second most popular with 20, up 50% for a 12% market share, followed by Case IH on 21, down 19.2% for an 8.4% stake.
New Holland took fourth on 21, followed by Kubota on 13.
Commercial registrations taking off
Used commercial registrations for the year are now up a huge 22%, totalling 11,953.
In November, registrations were steady, down one to 1130 units.
Toyota topped the market on 498 vehicles, up 5.1% for a 42.7% share.
Nissan was second on 249, up 3.8% for a 21.4% share, followed by Isuzu on 69, up 27.8% for a 5.9% stake.
Mazda was next on 65, followed closely by Fiat on 63 – largely motorhomes.
The Toyota Hiace was unsurprisingly the top commercial on 382 units.
The Nissan Caravan came next on 75, followed by the Fiat Ducato on 62 units.
Mazda’s Bongo was fourth on 56, with the Nissan NV200 fifth on 48.
Most popular import truck was the Isuzu Elf on 35.
Meanwhile, Ford led the new commercial sector in November with 22% (943 units) followed by Toyota with 20% (869 units) and Holden third with 8% market share (340 units).
The Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model with 20% share (874 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 14% share (620 units).
Year-to-date the Ford Ranger remains both the top commercial vehicle model and the top model overall with 8824 registrations compared to the Hilux’s 7664.
