Commercial vehicle sales gather pace in first quarter of the calendar year
Could this be the long-awaited commercial vehicle sales bounce? Manufacturers will hope it’s more than just seasonality and that the bullish figures for March are part of a trend that seems years in the making.
At 2,893 commercial vehicles, the Truck Industry Council’s T-Mark figures for March are approaching to twice that of January’s 1,614 and a handy 785 above February’s 2,108 and they are the best March figures this decade, comfortably above 2010’s 2,651 and the previous March’s 2,631.
There is continuing growth or serious returns to form from all the major truck brands, with Hino, at 477 for the month up from 198 and 310 in preceding months, making up some ground on market leader Isuzu at 540, up from 401 and 471.
Also highlighting a turn of growth speed this year amongst the big bangers is Volvo’s month-on-month performance of 62, 107 and 151, along with Scania’s 17, 22 and 57.
In a performance almost as impressive in percentage terms, Kenworth doubles its growth rate again this year, with 124 jumping to 149 and 191.
Heavy duty trucks are building momentum with month-on-month totals at 518, 638 and 885 but the March number remains beneath that of last year’s 1,002 and the previous year’s 900.
Creditable was Mercedes-Benz’s 45, 76 and 133 – 38 of which were its heavy-duty offerings, themselves up from 13 in February.
Mercedes-Benz is also making every post a winner in vans at 130, 163 and 230, while Renault vans looks to give significant cheek at 25, 44 and 155 and jumping into second place over Ford’s offering, which continues reside in the doldrums, advancing at a tepid 57, 61 and 66.
Medium-duty sales, at 581 for March, were up from 336 and 426 but were still second best to the decade high of 595 in 2013.
It is where Hino, with 200 units, makes a push for parity with Isuzu, at 207 though it was well behind in the preceding two months.
It was a similar story in the light-duty segment at 241 and 247 respectively.