After a slower than usual start to the calendar year, Kenworth has nudged Volvo off the top perch and wrestled back the lead in the heavy-duty truck sales race for 2024.
In the latest numbers released by the Truck Industry Council, the Bayswater badge recorded a healthy 283 units delivered for the month of July against Volvo’s 197.
That now puts Kenworth on 1994 for the year-to-date (YTD), 51 ahead of Volvo on 1943, good enough for market shares of 19.9 and 19.4 respectively.
While some pundits were forecasting headwinds in the later half of the year, it doesn’t appear to be the case in the heavy sector.
So far this year, there have been 10,020 heavies delivered to new owners versus 9837 at the same time in 2023.
Most heavy-duty OEMs had reason to celebrate in July too, the tally of 1251 also up on the 1105 total this time last year.
Year-on-year, Scania has made a notable bite into market share.
The Swedish giant sits fourth behind Isuzu, but has broken clear of a big pack thanks to another good month of deliveries in July.
The 128 new sets of keys brings its YTD total to 970, good enough for a 9.1 per cent market share, up from 7.2 at the same time in 2023.
In the overall race, the predicted winds also appear to have run out of puff.
According to TIC, there were 3897 deliveries of trucks and vans in July, up from 3181 in the same month last year.
That brings the YTD total to 27,972 which is still ahead of the 27,576 recorded by the end of July 2023.
Isuzu led the charge in July, yet again, with 1078 units moved, up from 1008 at the same time last year.
The dominators in the ready-to-work space now have an impressive 7713 deliveries for the year, good enough for a 27.6 market share, although that’s slightly below its 2023 YTD market share of 29.4.
A healthier than usual van sector may have made a dent – nearest rivals Hino and Fuso also experienced similar YTD market share dips.