The month of April has seen some surprise truck sales figures released as the Covid-19 crisis seems to be having an effect on some truck sales numbers. The latest results released by the Truck Industry Council show a decline in sales numbers, but the months to come will give us a better handle on the real effects of the current crisis.
Overall truck sales numbers are down, as one would expect during the kind of lock down the country is now experiencing. However the drop is not as drastic as many would have feared and could well return to more normal number later on in the year as the economy returns to normal.
Overall truck sales in April amounted to 2302, making 9207 trucks sold so far this year. Compared to the record year we had in 2019 this is relatively low, with last April running at 2943 sales in the month with a total of 11261 for the year at the end of April, this represents a fall of around 20 per cent.
Although figures overall are down, the current situation seems to be affecting the different brands in different ways. Perennial number one in heavy duty trucks Kenworth dropped to second on the ladder with 127 sales, while Volvo kept up the momentum from earlier in the year with 186 trucks going out of the door.
This leaves the Swedish truck maker with 18.4 per cent market share and a lead of 33 trucks over Kenworth for the year. These numbers would not have been effected by the short term closure of both brands’ assembly plants to prepare for Covid-safe production.
Meanwhile in the light duty market, Isuzu played second fiddle to Hino in the April sales figures, just. Hino sold 206 trucks and Isuzu 203. The normally dominant Isuzu still retain a large lead in the year overall, with the 2020 total 1036 well ahead of Hino’s sales so far of 634.
It’s not all bad news for the Paccar brands in Australia. The new range unveiled earlier this year by DAF has given that brand’s performance a shot in the arm. In 2019 DAF sat at a heavy duty market share of 3.2 per cent, while this year it has been boosted to 4.6 per cent for 2020, so far.
Brands, other than those in the heavy duty market already mentioned, seem to be running at the same market rate in 2020 as they did in 2019, albeit on lower sales. This makes the surprise truck sales figures released between number one and two in the heavy duty market all the more noteworthy.
