Strong sales across all segments were a month-to-month event in the Australian new heavy vehicle market for the first five months of 2024, however from June onward truck sales began a steady 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.
A the Truck Industry Council (TIC) detailed in its August new truck and van sales media update, it must be noted part of that Van segment growth comes from TIC capturing two new Van 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. By the end of November 2024, this had added 2,814 additional sales in 2024 for brands that were not captured in T-Mark in 2023. The vast majority of these vehicles, totalling 2,685, are Vans, with a further 129 being Light Duty trucks.
A total of 4,322 new trucks and vans above 3.5t GVM were sold in November 2024, up 2.3 percent over 2023 sales. However, if we exclude the LDV and Peugeot sales, 4,093 sales were recorded and that is actually a -3.1 percent decline over 2023 sales.
So, the month of November 2024 is effectively down over November 2023 sales. Year-to-date sales are 47,101 and that represents a 7.9 percent increase in sales compared to the same period last year.
Looking at these numbers, the market may well crack the 50,000 unit milestone for the first time ever in Australia. However, 6.4 percent of that market growth has so far come from the inclusion of LDV and Peugeot sales in 2024.
Again, comparing the total market without LDV and Peugeot sales the total figure is 44,287 heavy vehicles in 2024, versus 43,646 this time in 2023 – representing a 1.5 percent increase over 2023 sales.
Sales in the Heavy Duty truck segment continue to slow in 2024 and November sales continued that trend. In total 1,387 Heavy trucks were delivered, down a significant 13.7 percent, or 220 trucks, on November 2023. The year-to-date the result is looking better, though still negative, with Heavy sales tracking down by -0.3 percent over 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 the Heavy Duty segment in 2024 and that trend continued in November. The Australian Medium Duty market ended the month of November with 703 sales, down 6.9 percent (52 units) compared with November 2023.
Consistently 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.
The Light Duty truck segment has seen reduced activity in 2024 and this trend continued in November. A total of 1,255 Light Duty trucks were delivered last month, down 3.0 percent on the same month last year, representing a reduction of 39 trucks. Year-to-date Light Duty truck sales are faring notably worse, well down on the same period last year. To the end of November 1,584 fewer Light Duty trucks have been sold, compared to the same period in 2023 – representing a drop of 10.6 percent.
By contrast, the Light Duty van segment continues to go from strength to strength. If we start by looking at the Light Duty van segment with the LDV and Peugeot numbers, a total of 977 vans were sold in November 2024, up a staggering 72.0 percent, 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 percent over last year’s results, when only 5,570 vans had been sold to the end of November.
Even with the LDV and Peugeot numbers removed, a total of 767 vans were sold in November 2024, up a healthy 35.0 percent. 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 percent over the same period last year.
“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 TIC CEO, Tony McMullan.
“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. 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”
Speculating on the end-of-year sales result, Mr McMullan said a new sales record could be on the cards.
“With just December sales remaining, we are looking at potentially breaking the 50,000 mark for new heavy vehicle sales in Australia for the first time ever,” he said.
“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 percent 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.”
