AUSTRALIAN truck and heavy van new sales hit a record for February, up 21.8 per cent with 3499 units sold, to smash the previous February sales record set in 2008 of 3017 trucks and vans.

Heavy vehicle sales opened 2023 with a record start in January and this trend continued in February.

The Truck Industry Council (TIC) reports that heavy vehicle sales to the end of February this year are up 1264 units over the first two months of 2022, a 25.2 per cent increase and something that has market analysts excited.

But it is tempered by TIC saying that interest rate hikes are slowing many sectors in the Australian economy and the previous Government’s Temporary Full Expensing incentive is scheduled to end on June 30, 2023.

“The combination of these two economic events is expected to slow heavy vehicle sales from mid-2023 on,” it said.

TIC CEO Tony McMullan said the strong sales start to 2023 was positive for the road transport industry however he warned the situation may be very different for the second half of the year.

“January and February sales have been very strong, leading to a number of monthly new truck sales records to be broken early in 2023,” he said.

“However, with many sectors of the economy cooling due to interest rate rises and particularly with negotiations ongoing with the federal treasury over extending the delivery timeline for the Temporary Full Expensing incentive that is scheduled to end in June, industry is concerned that many truck orders will be cancelled because trucks will not be completed and delivered into service, due to ongoing global supply chain issues.

“Cancelled orders will directly affect employment at body builders, equipment suppliers, truck dealerships and OEMs.

“With the potential for many job losses, TIC and the Australian Trucking Association have been jointly calling for the current Labor government to extend the delivery timeline for the Temporary Full Expensing scheme, allowing trucks that are already ordered, to be delivered up until June 30, 2024.

“This can avoid potential job losses in the manufacturing and road transport sectors.”

In detail, sales for February this year were highlighted by the Heavy Duty truck segment which sold 1224 units, up 19.0 per cent, or 195 units.

This result broke the previous February sales record, set before the onset of the GFC in 2008, when 1060 trucks were sold, by 13.4 per cent.

TIC said that these strong January and February sales bring the 2023 year-to-date tally to 2168 HD trucks which is 22.7 per cent (401 trucks) above sales at this time last year.

It said that the Medium Duty segment also performed well again in February with 570 truck deliveries for the month compared with 544 units in February 2022, a small gain of 4.8 per cent.

TIC said that, as reported last month, the MD segment is a shrinking market, “so it is unlikely that we will ever see new Medium truck sales rewriting the record books.”

This was evident in February with sales of 119 trucks, down on the best-ever February deliveries of 689 trucks achieved in 2008. Year-to-date the MD segment is 5.2 per cent above 2022 sales, with 1015 medium trucks sold in 2023 compared with 965 trucks to the end of February last year.

TIC said that the Light Duty truck segment continued to perform well with 1280 sales in February, up a “very healthy” 25.1 per cent over February 2022. This represents 257 more LD trucks delivered than February last year.

“This was another record, eclipsing the previous best February sales result of last year when 1023 little trucks were sold,” it said.

“Year-to-date sales for LD trucks are well ahead of 2022, with 2269 sales this year compared with 1791 last year. That is a 26.7 per cent increase, or 478 more truck sales thus far in 2023.”

It also reported that Light Duty Van sales were bouncing back from the poor results seen in 2022, primarily due to supply chain issues last year.

February saw 425 Vans delivered, up 149 units, or 54.0 per cent over 2022.

“While a great result, it falls well short of the best ever February result set back in 2016 when 560 Vans were sold,” it said.

“Year-to-date van sales are up over 2022 numbers by an amazing 67.4 per cent, or 335 more Vans sold so far this year, compared to 2022.

“However, this indicates more how poor Van sales were in 2022, rather than how good they are this year.”

By Neil Dowling