All heavy vehicle truck and van segments in October have increased sales over and above yearly averages recorded to date in 2020.
According to the latest figures released by the Truck Industry Council, both Heavy and Medium Duty segments were down on October 2019 sales while Light Duty Truck and Van segments were ahead of October 2019 sales results and ahead of the sales average posted to date in 2020.
Year-to-date sales across all segments are down 12.0 per cent, however when taken in isolation, sales for the month, on average, were down just 2.3 per cent over October 2019.
This is a significantly better result when considering sales in Victoria have been soft due to the 112 day COVID-19 lock down.
As detailed above, Heavy Duty Truck sales were down in October when compared with 2019 results (-6.1 per cent, 66 fewer Heavy trucks), however were up significantly relative to the 2020 yearly average which is running at -20.3 per cent year-to-date for the Heavy Duty category.
In 2020 a total of 8,440 trucks have been delivered, well down (-2,146 trucks) on the 10,586 trucks sold to the end of October 2019. However, the trend is looking positive for the remainder of this year with many truck OEMs reporting a solid order bank for November and December.
Year-to-date Medium Duty Truck sales have been down 14.3 per cent on average with 5,372 trucks sold compared with 6,267 vehicles in 2019. However as with the HD segment, MD truck sales in October were stronger, with 536 Medium trucks delivered, down only 58 trucks over October 2019.
The Light Duty Truck sales were in positive territory in October, just, when compared with October sales last year.
Four more Light Duty trucks were sold in October compared to the same month in 2019, bringing the tally to 9934 units.
That is a 0.4 per cent improvement over the 2019 October result. Year-to-date the Light Truck segment is down on average 5.9 per cent. In terms of sales numbers that looks as follows, 9,497 LD truck sales in 2019, compared with 8,934 little truck sales thus far in 2020 (-563 trucks).
Least effected of all the heavy vehicle segments in 2020, Light Duty Van sales in October were solid, up 10.2 per cent for the month.
In total, 528 vans were sold in October 2020, an increase of 49 units over the 479 sold in October 2019.
Year-to-date the Light Duty Van segment trails 2019 sales by 208 units (-3.9 per cent), with 5,078 vans delivered in 2020, compared with 5,282 van sales to the end of October 2019.
Tony McMullan, CEO of Truck Industry Council, noted the October results signalled to the industry a positive progression.
“Having seen the new truck sales market stabilise to a large degree in quarter three, we are now realising a level of positive growth, although slight, across the Light Truck and Van segments in October, while sales in the Medium and Heavy segments, though down on October 2019 results, were well up on the 2020 year-to-date trend,” he said in a statement.
“These positive results across all heavy vehicle segments are most likely due to the ongoing financial benefits of the federal government’s instant asset write-off incentive, that operators can leverage.
“I am pleased to see that the Truck Industry Council’s lobbying efforts, for an increase in the instant asset write-off limit and the schemes duration, were acted upon by government. With the Treasurer announcing in the recent federal budget that the $150,000 cap was to be removed and the scheme extended until the 30th June 2022.”
McMullan also recognised the unique events in the state of Victoria and the broader effects these have had on the economy.
“While Victoria came out of their almost four month lockdown in mid-October, this likely had no positive effect on new truck sales, for the month just past, due to the lag time taken from truck order, body fit-out, to registration and customer delivery,” he said.
“The easing of restrictions in Victoria was pleasing for residents and should have a positive effect on new truck sales in November and December. Furthering sales gains as the year closes out.”