Light duty leads sales to annual highs

Little standing in way of segment record and total high under siege

 

A December commercial vehicle sales performance close to last December’s will see another annual record for the decade fall come the new year.

This month last year saw 3,070 units – the biggest year-on-year (YOY) result for the month so far this decade – tip the market three units over the 32,000 mark, the first time this decade the annual total had entered that territory.

November last year’s year-to-date (YTD) total of 28,933 lags last month’s 29,903, helping put the record at risk, especially this year builds on October’s and November’s totals of 2,996 and 2,956 respectively.

Isuzu continues to do the bull work, with a November YTD total of 7,684 up from last year’s corresponding figure of 6,729.

While Hino is treading water, Fuso upped its YTD to 3,282 from 3,025.

Heavy duty market leader Kenworth will hope its newly launched T610 and a change in market dynamics will help push HD sales forward next year after fading in YTD figures to 1,793 from 1,863, especially as Volvo (1,493 from 1,286 last year) is making its presence felt.

Volvo Australia tells Trade Trucks its hefty rises have been spread across multiple customers rather than due to a few big purchases.

Of the heavy brigade, Mack and Scania have shown tenacity in the second half of the financial year –the former breaking into three figures in October and lifting one to 108 last month, the latter eyeing three figures after adding 20 units to 90 in November.

The YOY November total of 973 was jump from the previous November’s 802 but YTD was easy, 8,790 versus last year’s 8,883.

The medium-duty segment, at 621, bounced back to a monthly total in the 600s after October’s dip to 594.

After an excellent first half of this year, YTD was 6,396 compared with last year’s 6,091.

The sales-darling light-duty segment is pushing heavily into its own record territory, with this year’s YTD 9,774 up significantly on last year’s 8,884.

This makes five figures inevitable, and with a chance of slipping past 2008’s 10,618, the previous Truck Industry Council (TIC) T-Mark record.

Amongst the vanmakers, Mercedes-Benz and Renault continue to duked it out for the second month in a row, with the upstart French make heading the German market leader in November at 164 to 159 after bursting through the 100 mark in September.

The YTD figure remains with Benz at 1869 to 1,350, with an annual total in the 2,000s a distinct possibility, but the competition will be cracking next year at this rate.

 

 

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