New all-time sales record set for Australian heavy vehicles

Australian truck and heavy van sales for the 2024 calendar year have increased by a healthy 7.4 per cent.

It’s the third successive year that a record has been set for sales of heavy vehicles in Australia according to data shared by the Truck Industry Council.

Heavy Duty trucks continue to make up the largest slice of the Australian heavy truck and van market, accounting for 33.4 per cent of all heavy vehicles sold in 2024 and remaining comfortably ahead of the Light Duty truck segment which holds second place with a share of 28.4 per cent in 2024.

The final total of 51,277 units across all categories, as reported by the Truck Industry Council in its monthly T-Mark data showed a significant increase on the previous year of 3,520 units.

Back in 2022 a total of 44,379 trucks and heavy vans were sold, beating the then previous all-time sales year of 2018.

In 2023 a new mark was set when 47,757 heavy vehicles were delivered in the 12 month calendar year.

Now that 2023 record has been exceeded in 2024.

Part of this 2024 market growth comes from the Truck Industry Council (TIC) capturing two new Truck and Van brands (LDV Deliver 9 and Peugeot Boxer) in 2024.

While these two brands have been selling commercial vehicles above 3.5t GVM in Australia for a few years now, prior to 2024 they chose not to share their sales data.

TIC has captured all sales from January 2024 in the T-Mark sales results for these two brands and this has added 3,010 additional sales in 2024 for brands that were not captured in T-Mark in 2023.

The vast majority of these vehicles, 2,872, are Vans, with a further 138 being Light Duty trucks skew comparisons with 2023 sales.

Even with the LDV and Peugeot sales excluded, a total of 48,267 heavy vehicles were sold in 2024——still a new all-time sales record, eclipsing 2023 sales by 510 vehicles, a 1.1 per cent increase.

This, according to the TIC, is in reality, a more accurate indication of new commercial vehicle sales in Australia in 2024.

It represents a slight increase over 2023 sales and “a great achievement for the sector given the economic headwinds, cost of living pressures, no interest rate relief, GDP per capita falls,” that have seen many sectors in the Australia economy recede in 2024 the TIC said in a statement.

There was a total of 13,023 fourth quarter sales in 2024, a new Q4 sales record, eclipsing the previous best fourth quarter record set in 2023 when 12,305 heavy vehicles were delivered in October through to December.

Even with The LDV and Peugeot sales numbers removed (a revised total of 12,381 trucks and vans) it was a record fourth quarter (just, by 76 vehicles).

Reviewing the overall numbers for the month of December 2024 in isolation, the total heavy vehicle market saw 4,167 new truck and van sales. With the LDV and Peugeot numbers removed, December 2024 sales totalled 3,980.

The Heavy Duty Truck Segment managed to amass sales of 1,381 units for the month of December 2024, well down, 371 fewer trucks, or -21.2 per cent, over the December 2023 result.

In the fourth quarter of 2024 Heavy Duty truck sales reached a total of 4,295, down 622 trucks, or -12.6 per cent, over October to December 2023.

Overall, 2024 saw a softening of Heavy Duty truck sales and the end of year total of 17,152 fell short of the 2023 Heavy sales total by 417 trucks, -2.4 per cent.

“It was pleasing to see truck sales hold up well in 2024 and van sales strengthen to record levels,” said Tony McMullan Chief Executive Officer of Truck industry Council.

“This despite challenging economic conditions throughout 2024 in Australia. It was equally pleasing to see a new annual new truck and van sales record that exceed the 50,000 mark for the first time ever,” he continued.

“The 40,000 barrier was only broken relatively recently in 2018 and despite the protracted global COVID supply chain disruptions, heavy vehicle sales in Australia continue to set new records. The 2024 result of 51,277 sales has surpassed industry expectations, particularly given the above mentioned economic headwinds.

“While these record sales numbers in 2024 were set with the inclusion of a couple of van brands who had not previously shared their sales data with TIC, 2024 was a record year for heavy vehicle sales even if these brands were not included, with a tally of 48,267 bettering the previous record of 47,757 vehicles set in 2023.”

The Medium Duty Truck Segment saw slight growth over the year when compared to 2023, however December Medium truck sales weakened to 706 units, a drop of 2.5 per cent on the previous year.

The fourth quarter MD segment result of 2,107 is also down on the final quarter 2023 result of 2,131 units by 24 trucks, or -1.1 per cent.

The final quarter record for Medium trucks, was set back in 2007 when 2,812 MD trucks were delivered in the final three months. It also highlights the freight industry’s move away from Medium trucks into either smaller Light Duty trucks, or to larger Heavy trucks.

The total tally of 8,132 Medium truck sales in 2024, did however eclipse that of 2023 by 1.6 per cent, or 128 trucks. While up on 2023 and 2022 sales, however, the 2024 result is well below (-18.0 per cent) the segment peak of 2007 when 9,923 Medium Duty trucks were delivered.

In 2024 Medium Duty truck sales accounted for just 15.9 per cent of new heavy vehicles sold in Australia, almost half of the MD segment’s peak of 30.9 per cent set in 2001.

The Light Duty Truck Segment saw slowing sales in 2024, coming off record sales in 2022 and near record sales in 2023.

With a total of 14,558 Light Duty trucks delivered last year, it represents a fall of 10.0 per cent, 1,608 fewer, than in 2023 for the Light category.

Looking solely at the month of December 2024, sales were down 2.0 per cent over December 2023 “little” truck sales with just 1,163 new Light Duty trucks delivered, 24 fewer trucks than December 2023.

The Light Duty Van Segment was particularly affected by the inclusion of LDV and Peugeot sales for the first time in 2024. These two brands, LDV and Peugeot, accounted for 25.1 per cent of the increased sales in the Van segment in 2024.

The Van segment continues to rebound from the poor sales results seen during and immediately post COVID, primarily due to supply chain issues then.

By year end 2024 a total of 11,435 Vans above 3.5t GVM were sold in Australia, up an impressive 90.0 per cent (5,417 Vans) over the previous year’s result. However, the TIC acknowledged that 25.1 per cent of this increase came from the inclusion of LDV and Peugeot sales for the first time.When excluding these brands the segment, nevertheless, saw sales of 8,563 in 2024.

That is an increase of 42.3 per cent, 2,545 more van sales, than in 2023.

December 2024 saw particularly strong van sales, with 926 vans delivered, well up on December 2023 sales by 106.7 per cent (478 vans).

The 2024 fourth quarter result of 2,890 new van sales was also up on the 2023 fourth quarter result of 1,508, by 1,382 vans, or 91.6 per cent.

The surge in van sales saw the Van segment make up 22.3 per cent of the total Australian new heavy vehicle market in 2024, setting a new record for the segment and surpassing the previous record set at year end 2020 when the segment then peaked at 18.1 per cent share.

While buoyed by the record new truck sales, the Truck industry Council and its members, remain concerned that the average age of the Australian truck fleet remains much older than that of Europe and North America according to McMullan.

“An old truck fleet is not conducive to improved safety, public health and environmental outcomes for our society,” he said.

“Moving into an election year in 2025, we must consider what more can be done by both industry and particularly government, to reduce the age of our nation’s truck fleet.”