Race at the top?

NEW ZEALAND’S NEW TRUCK MARKET CONTINUED TO perform strongly in September – staying ahead of last year’s sales volumes.

September saw 649 registrations of heavy trucks above 4.5 tonnes GVM, compared to 475 in September 2021. That lifted the year-to-date total sales at the three-quarter mark of the year to 4410, compared to 3559 in the same period last year.

The trailer market posted 128 registrations for the month, well behind last year’s 146 registrations and very close to matching the 129 registrations in both September 2018 and 2019. The YTD trailer total of 1054 after the first nine months lags a long way behind the 1312 registrations at the same point in 2018, however is not too far behind last year at 1076.

In the overall heavy truck market (above 4.5t GVM), FUSO (YTD 922/September 123) retained the top spot for the year although Isuzu (837/159) performed strong to lead the September market with 159 registrations and 24.5% market share.

With the YTD gap between FUSO and Isuzu closing, the race at the top during the last quarter of the year is set to be interesting.

Hino (695/83) has comfortably retained third place while Scania (381/73) ranks fourth. Iveco (222/28) and UD (212/27) kept their positions for the month while Foton (200/35) edges ahead of Mercedesbenz (196/29) into seventh. Kenworth (179/20) and Volvo (132/13) hold their spots to round out the top 10 marques.

In the 3.5-4.5t GVM crossover segment, Fiat increased its YTD total to 296 by achieving 32 registrations for the month. Mercedes-benz (70/8) is next, ahead of Chevrolet (55/9) and Volkswagen (54/4) while Ford (33/2) and RAM (33/13) tied for fifth.

In the 4.5-7.5t GVM division, the top brands held their places, with FUSO (431/60), edging further ahead of Isuzu (274/49), Hino (150/24) and Iveco (129/15).

Isuzu (329/64) continues to extend its commanding lead of the 7.5-15t GVM segment, while Hino (208/12) retains second ahead of FUSO (185/21).

In the 15-20.5t GVM division, Hino (93/13) continues to lead YTD ahead of FUSO (50/7). UD (43/4), Scania (24/5) and Isuzu (21/2) complete the top five.

In the tiny 20.5-23t segment, Hino (13/1) holds first spot, with FUSO (8/3) in second and Sinotruk (2/0), Isuzu (2/0) & Volvo (2/1) all third with two registrations apiece this year.

In the premium 23t to maximum GVM category, Scania pulled off another big month, with 68 registrations, ranking it number one for September and lifting its YTD total to 357.

Fuso (248/32) and Hino (231/33) retained second and third, while Isuzu (211/44) were second for September while gaining 15.4% share.

The rest of the premium category remained unchanged month on month with Kenworth (179/20) in fifth ahead of UD (160/21), Volvo (126/11), DAF (111/13), Mercedes-benz (61/5) and MAN (60/13) – rounding out the top 10.

While trailer market leader Patchell (106/10) remains in the top spot for the YTD, Fruehauf (99/17) were September’s market leader with a 13.3% share. Now separated by only seven units there is also an interesting race for trailer market number one status in the final three months of the year.

Roadmaster (85/10) remain in third ahead of Domett (82/11) and M.T.E (69/4). Transport Trailers (60/5) have been joined by TMC (60/8) in sixth equal position. Transfleet (36/3) and Freighter (30/4) and Fairfax (29/3) complete the top-10.

T&D