Latest sales figures from the Truck Industry Council (TIC) continue to rewrite the record books.
Although historically a sluggish month for sales, July picked up where June left off, once again raising the bar to set fresh figures.
All truck sectors, heavy-, medium- and light-duty, posted gains over July 2021 sales, as has been the case all year.
A total of 3494 heavy vehicles were sold this July, surpassing the previous best July mark of July 2018, when 3344 trucks and vans were moved.
Sales were comfortably ahead of July last year by 6 per cent, that is an increase of 198 vehicles for the month. Total heavy vehicle sales year-to-date are running 5 per cent above last year (1165 vehicles) and 4.4 per cent (1067 Vehicles) above the record year of 2018, at the end of July.
TIC CEO Tony McMullan said it is encouraging to see the sales growth from the first half of the year continue in July.
“This is a great start to quarter three and the back half of the year.” said McMullan.
“July is typically a slow month for truck sales, coming off strong sales that we witness at financial year end every June.”
The ‘heavies’ were again up in July, continuing a postive year-long trend with a total of 1067 trucks delivered, up 4.5 per cent, or 46 trucks, on July 2021.
Year-to-date the results are even more encouraging, with heavy sales tracking up 17.2 per cent over those of the same period in 2021.
In terms of actual truck numbers, the sales gap is now 1172 more heavy trucks sold year-to-date than in 2021.
Perennial sector leader Kenworth once again stole the show in July with 209 units, pushing it out to a year-to-date (YTD) total of 1629, good enough for a 20.4 per cent market share of the category.
After wrestling the second spot back from Isuzu last month, Volvo clung to the perch with 149 sales last month, vs. Isuzu’s 123, but it’s still a tight race on YTD totals with Volvo on 1170 and Isuzu 1133.
Scania consolidated its hold on fourth spot with another triple-digit month (100) to sit on 583 YTD.
Mercedes-Benz also enjoyed a big July with 82 sales, the fifth best total for the month, and is now just 72 shy of UD Trucks for a place in the YTD-top five.
In the medium category, TIC reports that sales have been very consistent thus far in 2022, with the month of July being another steady, double-digit percentage increase over the July 2021 result.
In total 593 medium-duty trucks were delivered, up a solid 11 per cent over July 2021 sales (59 trucks).
Year-to-date the picture is slightly stronger when compared to 2021, with 4554 medium trucks delivered to the end of July 2022. That represents an 11.9 per cent increase over 2021, and amounts to 483 more medium trucks sold this year.
Meanwhile, light-duty truck sales have seen solid, but not spectacular, so far in 2022.
Sales for July kicked up somewhat, over the trend seen so far this year. “Little truck” sales were up over those of the corresponding month last year by 14.6 per cent with a total of 1377 trucks sold in July, that is 175 more than in July 2021.
