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New truck and trailer registrations for May
NEW ZEALAND’S NEW TRUCK MARKET NOT ONLY NOTCHED-UP a new sales record in May – it also saw longtime dominant Number One Isuzu beaten in monthly sales for the first time in 18 months.
The revitalised Fuso, on the back of its change in NZ distributor late last year, registered 101 trucks with a GVM over 4.5-tonnes for the month – five more than Isuzu.
That was within an overall (4.5t-plus GVM) market of 473 registrations – beating the previous alltime best May by 24% and 27% ahead of the same month last year, according to official NZ Transport Agency registration data.
It was the second-best monthly sales total alltime – beaten only by 540 registrations in June 2008, which market analyst Robin Yates points out was created by an artificial stimulus… namely a rush to beat new brake and exhaust emissions regulations.
May was, says Yates, “certainly the best ‘honest’ month of all time.” The 1938 registrations for the year to the end of May was also a new record – 14% ahead of the first five months of 2015 and 20% ahead of the same period last year.
The heavy trailer market also had a good month, with 153 registrations setting another new May record, 21% ahead of 2005’s old alltime best. It was 27% up on May last year and the 572 year-to-date total at the end of May was a 6% improvement on last year… but fell short of the 591 for the same period in 2015.
Yates, whose Marketing Hand consultancy prepares this monthly report for NZ Truck & Driver, says that, in the new truck market, “the bar just keeps getting higher and higher – as it should in a growing economy.
“When Fuso NZ managing director Kurtis Andrews said last December that his target was 100 units a month, I must admit to a degree of scepticism. After all, the new Fuso NZ distributorship did not officially launch until January.
“Since then though it has registered, on average, over 75 heavy trucks and five buses per month. Not bad for a startup Kiwi
company.
“But, of course, it has a long way to go catch longterm market leader Isuzu, which by the end of May had registered 438 new trucks this year – 16% more than Fuso (with 379).”
Hino continued to hold third place, with 249 YTD and 61 for the month. Volvo (148/18) retained fourth, followed by UD (106/31).
DAF (101/38) swapped places with stablemate Kenworth (87/17). Separating them was Mercedes-Benz (88/22), which retained seventh, while Iveco (83/26) remained ninth.
Scania (75/32) held 10th, while MAN (52/9) lost a place. RAM (26/8) passed Mack (22/1), while Freightliner (19/3) remained 14th.
In the 3.5-4.5t crossover segment, Fiat (113/22) continued to dominate, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (45/13) and Renault (5/1). Iveco (4/0) lost a place, while Ford (4/1) gained one.
In the 4.5-7.5t segment there were no changes to the order of last month’s positions: Fuso (218/83) extended its lead over Isuzu (114/20), ahead of Hino (50/9), Mercedes-Benz (40/4), Iveco (39/15), RAM (26/8), Fiat (16/2), Volkswagen (7/0) and Hyundai (5/2). Renault remained on one.
Things were a bit more changeable in the 7.5-15t segment, although Isuzu (184/37) remained dominant – well clear of a squabbling pack. Hino (90/27) moved into second spot at the expense of Fuso (87/10), while UD (30/8) retained fourth…. but Iveco (13/4) took fifth from MAN (10/0). Mercedes-Benz (4/0), DAF (3/0), Hyundai (3/0) and Foton (1/0) retained their places.
UD (29/10) still led the 15-20.5t segment from Hino (22/5), Fuso (13/1) and Isuzu (10/5). Mercedes-Benz (6/1) lost a place ahead of Iveco (5/1), DAF and MAN (3/0 apiece). Scania and Volvo (each 2/1) and Western Star (2/0) gained a place apiece.
Scania (6/3) led the 20.5-23t segment for the month, but remained third YTD behind Hino (11/1) and UD (8/1). Isuzu (3/1) retained fourth, while MAN and Sinotruk (2/0 apiece) each lost a place. Fuso and Mercedes-Benz remained seventh-equal with one each.
In the premium 23t-max GVM segment, Volvo (146/17) retained the YTD lead despite being only fifth-equal in May. Isuzu (127/33) remained second, while PACCAR stablemates DAF (95/38 and the leader for the month) and Kenworth (87/17) swapped third and fourth places. Hino (76/19) lost one place, while Scania (67/28) gained one. Fuso (60/7) lost one spot and UD (39/12) moved up a place to eighth. That left MAN (37/8) sharing ninth with an improving Mercedes-Benz (37/17). Iveco (26/6) retained 11th, but Mack (22/1) lost two places. Freightliner (19/3) and International (9/2) remained 13th and 14th.
The top two places in the trailer market remained the same in May, with Patchell (80/20) the clear No. 1, ahead of Fruehauf (56/18). But behind them, Domett (45/14) moved up from fourthequal to third, at the expense of MTE (41/8), which was joined by Roadmaster (41/10).
Transport Trailers (39/11) retained sixth, while TMC (35/8) was joined in seventh-equal by MaxiCUBE (35/11), which was up from eighth. Transfleet (23/7) was next, ahead of Jackson (22/6). T&D