Early promise hits a speed hump, with heavy duty segment hit badly
The commercial vehicle sales momentum built up over the past couple of months has not been sustained in April, Truck Industry Council (TIC) figures show.
A touch more than 500 fewer units were sold in the month compared with March.
Though it marks a better performance than in the previous April’s 2,214 units sold, it will be counted by manufacturers as a disappointment.
As if emphasising the TIC’s deep concerns expressed last month, the heavy duty sector bore the brunt, with 737 sales compared with March’s 885 and the previous April’s 797.
The previously resilient light duty segment also took a hit at 688 compared with last month’s 867 and April 2014’s 651.
Of the heavy duty truck makers, only Isuzu, with four units more at 96, and Foton, with five more to 17, lifted sales on the March figure.
Big falls were recorded by Scania (57 to 32), Mercedes-Benz (133 to 94), Volvo (151 to 111) and Kenworth (191 to 166), with Hino suffering most heavily of all (477 to 289).
The month was tough enough to halt Mercedes-Benz Vans’ once-inexorable progress, losing it 39 units to 191, though other van-makers’s losses were less hefty and Ford even made ground, up six units to 72.