Truck sales across all segments, despite the fast start to the year, are in decline when compared to 2023 sales results.
The only segment bucking that trend is Light Duty Vans, which continues to grow, significantly, over 2023 sales.
As Truck Industry Council (TIC) detailed in its August new truck and van sales media update, the Van segment growth comes from TIC capturing two new brands (LDV Deliver 9 and Peugeot Boxer) from July 2024.
Subsequently, TIC backdated all sales of these two brands from January 2024 in T-Mark sales results.
To the end of November 2024, this has added 2,814 additional sales in 2024 for brands that were not captured in T-Mark in 2023.
The vast majority of these vehicles, 2,685, are Vans, with a further 129 being Light Duty trucks.
However, the TIC acknowledged it does skew comparisons with 2023 sales, particularly in the Van segment due to a 25.5 per cent increase in 2024 Van sales that is solely attributed to the inclusion of mainly the LDV and to a lesser degree, Peugeot sales.
A total of 4,322 new trucks and vans above 3.5t GVM were sold in November 2024, this was up 2.3 per cent over 2023 sales.
However, when excluding the LDV and Peugeot sales, 4,093 sales were recorded and that is actually a -3.1 per cent decline over 2023 sales.
The month of November 2024 is therefore effectively down over November 2023 sales.
Year-to-date sales are 47,101 and that represents an increase in sales compared to the end of November 2023 of 7.9 per cent.
Even so, the market may well crack the 50,000 mark for the first time ever in Australia.
However, 6.4 per cent of that market growth has come from the inclusion of LDV and Peugeot sales in 2024.
Comparing the total market without LDV and Peugeot sales the numbers are, 44,287 heavy vehicles in 2024, versus 43,646 this time in 2023.
A 1.5 per cent increase over 2023 sales. Hence the market is actually only tracking just above 2023 levels, however with truck sales in all segments continuing to decrease slightly from June onward (LDV/Peugeot adjusted), the end of year 2024 result is too close to call with just December sales to come.
Sales in the Heavy Duty truck segment continue to slow in 2024 and November sales failed to abate that trend.
In total 1,387 Heavy trucks were delivered, down a significant 13.7 per cent, or -220 trucks, on November 2023.
Year-to-date the result is looking better, though still negative, with Heavy sales tracking down by -0.3 per cent over those of the same period in 2023.
In terms of actual truck numbers, the sales gap is 46 less Heavy trucks sold year-to-date in 2024 than to the end of November 2023.
Medium Duty truck sales have somewhat mirrored those of the Heavy Duty thus far in 2024 and that trend continued in November.
The Australian Medium Duty market ended the month of November with 703 sales, down 6.9 per cent (-52 units) over November 2023.
Consistent strong sales for much of the first half of 2024 has seen the Medium Duty segment stay ahead of 2023 sales and year-to-date the Medium truck market remains up over last year by 2.0 per cent, with an additional 146 trucks sold to the end of November 2024.
The Light Duty truck segment has seen reduced activity in 2024 and this trend continued in November. Some 1,255 Light Duty trucks were delivered last month, representing a decrease on November 2023, with 3.0 per cent fewer Light trucks delivered in November 2024 — a reduction of -39 trucks for the month compared with November 2023.
Year-to-date Light Duty truck sales are faring notably worse, well down on the same period last year.
To the end of November 2024, 1,584 fewer Light Duty trucks have been sold, compared to this time in 2023. That is a drop of 10.6 per cent year-on-year.
By contrast, the Light Duty van segment continues to go from strength to strength.
A total of 977 vans were sold in November 2024, up a staggering 72.0 per cent, or 409 more vans than November 2023.
Year-to-date the tally looks even better for the Van segment with a total of 10,509 van sales, up 88.7 per cent over last year results, when only 5,570 vans had been sold to the end of November 2023.
Even with the LDV and Peugeot numbers removed (a fairer comparison with 2023 sales, when these two brands did not provide their sales figures to T-Mark), a total of 767 vans were sold in November 2024, up a healthy 35.0 per cent, or 199 more vans than November 2023.
Year-to-date the comparison is very strong without the LDV and Peugeot numbers with a total of 7,824 van sales, up 40.5 per cent over year-to-date November 2023 van sales.
“As I detailed in the last T-Mark summary in August, the inclusion of the LDV and Peugeot brands is great news, however it can be seen from the results above, it does complicate comparisons of 2024 versus 2023 sales,” said Tony McMullan, Truck Industry Council CEO.
“Looking at the numbers holistically, heavy vehicle sales this year are tracking comfortably above those of 2023. However, in reality sales are only slightly ahead of those of last year when corrected for LDV and Peugeot,” he said.
“Heavy and Medium truck sales remain solid, however Light Duty truck sales continue to slow noticeably over 2023 results. While Van sales are well up even without counting the LDV and Peugeot numbers. Once these brands are added in, Van sales in 2024 are very impressive.”
With just December sales remaining, McMullan said there was still a possibility of breaking the 50,000 mark for new heavy vehicle sales in Australia for the first time.
“Of course, this will include the sales for LDV and Peugeot brands that TIC has not had access to in previous years. However, even if these brands are excluded from the 2024 sales tally, the market is tracking 1.5 per cent above 2023 results at the end of November. There is the real possibility that the all-time sales record set in 2023 will be broken this year, irrespective of the inclusion of these two brands.”