Isuzu picked up where it left off in 2021 with a strong opening to its 2022 assault on the heavy-duty truck sales sector.
On recent figures provided by the Truck Industry Council (TIC), Australia’s highest-selling truck brand for the last 33 years on the trot notched an impressive 127 sales in January.
That number was only bested by perennial sector leader Kenworth with 150 units in the opening sales salvo to the year.
Volvo sits in third spot with 109, with a distant gap back to Mack in fourth after moving 58 units in January.
Notable slow starters amongst the 2021 heavy-hitters were Scania and Mercedes-Benz, which recorded just 46 and 36 sales, respectively.
Overall, however, the January result for the segment was considered very strong, the fourth best on record in fact, after 2008, 2019 and the record sales year of 2018.
Coming off strong final quarter 2021 sales, it was expected that heavy truck sales would slow coming into in 2022 due to ongoing supply chain issues.
However, 738 heavy duty trucks were sold, beating the January result of last year by an impressive 141 trucks, up 23.6 per cent.
When compared with the record pre-GFC January of 2008 where 841 trucks were sold, this 2022 result is down by about 12 per cent, showing just how strong the market was back then.
TIC CEO Tony McMullan said it was very pleasing to see such a strong start to the year for all truck segments.
“However, as I generally remark at this time of year, January and even February sales, are subject to fluctuations and some inconsistencies due to the transition of supplying trucks from one year to the next and the summer holiday season,” he said.
“One should not read too much into the January result. We will have a much better indication of how the market is tracking for the year at the end of the first quarter, once January, February and March numbers are in and the market has had a chance to normalise.
“We are also heading into a federal election year in 2022 and historically that has the effect of disrupting sales, as some organisations await the election result before committing to significant capital expenditure.
But with strong government Covid financial incentives still on the table for 2022 and into 2023, times are good for purchasing a new truck, he added.