After slow start to 2022, Volvo has muscled its way to the top of the heavy-duty monthly sales tally, according to the latest numbers from the Truck Industry Council.
With a bumper 320 units sold in November, the Wacol-based powerhouse has knocked perennial leader Kenworth off its top perch with 21.1 per cent of sales in the segment.
Kenworth notched 299 sales for the month – 17 more than October – and is still comfortably clear in the overall tally for 2022 with a total of 2721 units year-to-date (YTD).
Volvo’s strong finish to the year has seen it leap-frog over Isuzu to lock away the second spot, with 2213 YTD, versus Isuzu’s 1860.
Overall, the heavies were well up in November, continuing a year long trend, with a total of 1519 units delivered for the month, up 15.4 per cent, or 203 trucks, on November 2021.
The November result was a new sales record for the eleventh month of the year. Year-to-date the result is almost as good, with heavy sales tracking up 14.9 per cent over those of the same period last year, with total heavy truck sales to the end of November reaching 13,485.
In terms of actual truck numbers, the sales gap has now stretched to 1752 more heavy trucks sold year-to-date than in 2021.
If we look back to the record year of 2018, we see that the 2022 heavy-duty segment is ahead. At the end of November 2018, the heavy truck tally stood at 13,158 trucks, in November 2022 the segment is ahead by 2 per cent (327 trucks).
Medium-duty truck sales have been solid throughout 2022 and while sales slowed a little in November, they were up on the 2021 November result.
According to the TIC, 696 medium trucks were sold in November 2022, up 1.2 per cent (8 trucks) over the same month in 2021. Year-to-date the news is better though, with medium truck sales ahead by 506 vehicles, a gain of 7.6 percent over 2021 sales to the end of November.
The overall YTD tally across all segments was 40,267 after 11 months – a new record – and an annual milestone is now a formality.
With December sales averaging out at about 3400 trucks, the TIC expects the previous best mark of 41,628 set in 2018 to be comfortably surpassed.
“It is pleasing to see the solid sales continue through November, with a number of new records set,” said TIC CEO Tony McMullan.
“These record sales could not come at a better time, with the average age of trucks cracking the 15 year mark in 2021 and with Australia having one of the oldest truck fleets in the Western world, we need record, or near record sales to reverse this fleet aging trend.
“An old truck fleet is not good for road safety, nor noxious and greenhouse emissions, or for operator productivity.”