Renault vans drive bumper January vehicle sales

French manufacturer consolidates position at top of delivery market

 

Commercial vehicle sales saw their best start to the year since 2008, with Renault in the driving seat.

The French van maker has left former vans leader Mercedes-Benz in its exhaust, recording a 250 per cent jump in sales for the month, to 257, from last January’s 115.

That helped lead the overall figure to 1920 units, second only in the Truck Industry Council’s T-Mark figures to 2008, when the pre-GFC boom inflated it to 2247.

Isuzu’s 468 was a shade under its 2008 January total of 473. And while Fuso’s 203 was up on the previous year’s 158 but only just under 2008’s 229, Hino’s 211 indicates that going above 250 for the month, as it did in last in 2012, is tough ask.

Kenworth, at 61 and down from 93 last January, was unable to hold the figures garnered in December with the launch of its new product while Hino and Fuso combined were still not enough to top Isuzu’s long-term dominance.

That was less than Mercedes-Benz’s 77 but this is merely proof that big vans are blurring the light trucks measure, with the German make’s heavy duty figure a more modest 24, while it’s light-duty total was 50.

Still, Kenworth had to give January ground to Isuzu (69) and Volvo (65).

While there may be a long way to go for it to be called a recovery, the good new here is that the January heavy duty total of 479 was up on last January’s 438.

Medium-duty sales, at 360, were 10 above last year but below 2013’s 454.

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