All truck sectors, Heavy, Medium and Light Duty, posted gains over July 2021 sales, however, as has been the case all year, Van sales were significantly down again in July.
Despite the lower van numbers, total July 2022 sales were good enough to push the month’s deliveries to a new record, with 3,494 heavy vehicles sold. This surpassed the previous best July mark of July 2018, when 3,344 trucks and vans were sold.
Sales were comfortably ahead of July last year by 6.0 percent, that is an increase of 198 vehicles for the month. Total heavy vehicle sales year-to-date are running 5.0 percent above last year (1,165 vehicles) and 4.4 percent (1,067 Vehicles) above the record year of 2018, at the end of July.
As detailed above, the Heavy Duty Truck segment was up again in July, continuing a very positive yearlong trend, with a total of 1,067 trucks delivered, up 4.5 percent, or 46 trucks, on July 2021. Year-to-date the results are even more encouraging, with Heavy sales tracking up 17.2 percent over those of the same period in 2021. In terms of actual truck numbers, the sales gap is now 1,172 more Heavy trucks sold year-to-date than in 2021.
Medium Duty Truck sales have been very consistent thus far in 2022, with the month of July being another steady, double digit percentage increase over the July 2021 result. 593 Medium Duty trucks were delivered last month, up a solid 11.0 percent over July 2021 sales (59 trucks). Year-to-date the picture is slightly stronger when compared to 2021. 4,554 Medium trucks have been delivered to the end of July 2022, that is an 11.9 percent increase over 2021. That amounts to 483 more Medium trucks sold this year.
Light Duty truck sales have seen solid, but not spectacular, in 2022, however sales for July kicked up somewhat, over the trend seen so far this year. “Little truck” sales were up over those of the corresponding month last year by 14.6% with a total of 1,377 Light trucks sold in July, that is 175 more Light truck sales than in July 2021. Year-to-date Light Duty truck sales are not tracking quite at that rate, though still in the double percentage figures. Sales are up 10.2 percent over the same period to the end of July last year, that equates to 822 more Light trucks sold thus far in 2022.
The Light Duty Van segment has seen a significant retraction in sales compared to the sales of 2021. Year-to-date the tally is down over last year by 30.8 percent. This amounts to 1,312 less Van sales to the end of July 2022 verses the same period last year. The fall in sales is predominantly due to supply chain issues in Europe, the primary source market of these Vans. Looking at the month of July 2022 in isolation, Van sales were down, but by only by 15.2% (-82 vans), that is about half the year-to date percentage. This may indicate an improving supply chain, however we will have to await the Van sales results over the next couple of months to ascertain if this July result is an improving trend, or simply a one month aberration.
Chief Executive Officer of TIC, the peak industry body for truck manufacturers and importers into Australia, Tony McMullan, said “We saw record sales in the first half of 2022, culminating in a new June 2022 truck sales record. However, July is typically a slow month for truck sales, coming off strong sales that we witness at financial year end every June.
“So, it is very encouraging to see that July 2022 heavy vehicle sales set a new monthly record and have continued the sales growth that we saw in the first half of this year. This is a great start to quarter three and the back half of the year.”
