TRUCK sales are mirroring the nation’s economic climate with February sales down 13.4 per cent compared with the same month last year and expectations that factors including the effects of the COVID-19 virus leading to weakening sales for the remainder of the year.

In releasing the February truck sales data, Truck Industry Council (TIC) CEO Tony McMullen said the month was “unfortunately” in line with expectations.

Commenting on the effect of the COVID-19 virus on Australian freight transport and supply chains, Mr McMullen said: “Container movements have slowed noticeably, according to the Container Transport Alliance Australia. This will have many and far-reaching consequences for road freight companies in Australia.

“With a further slowing of our economy, these freight organisations may delay existing fleet replacement plans, further reducing the take-up of new trucks.

“This would lead to an increased ageing of our nation’s already old truck fleet, with flow-on negative effects for road safety, public health and road freight productivity.”

Mr McMullen said the TIC is calling on the federal government to acknowledge these potential issues and make appropriate financial incentives available to the road transport sector to stimulate growth.

February saw 2448 sales of new trucks, a decrease of 13.4 per cent (or 378 units) when compared with the same month in 2019.

Mr McMullen described the result for the month as “about average”, with seven better results and eight worse, since 2003.

“The continuation of slow sales in February follows on from average January sales and confirms that the industry is set for, at best, an average start to the year in 2020,” he said.

In the segments, heavy-duty (HD) truck sales took the biggest hit again and this continues the worrying trend observed in the latter half of 2019 and January 2020.

Only 777 heavy trucks were sold for the month of February, down a significant 19.2 per cent (185 units) on February 2019. Year-to-date HD sales lag those of last year by 21.1 per cent (representing 365 trucks).

Medium-duty (MD) truck sales remain the healthiest of all segments, although the category still lost ground on 2019 sales. February saw a total of 913 medium trucks delivered, down 12.4 per cent over February 2019. Year-to-date the MD market is holding up better, trailing sales of last year by just over seven per cent, down 74 trucks at the end of February.

Light-duty (LD) truck sales again took a hit in February, down 14.7 per cent (128 units) for the month. Total February light truck sales were 746 units. This result mirrors poor January sales, with year-to-date LD sales down by a similar amount, 14.3 per cent or 209 trucks.

LD vans were the only segment with a positive result in comparison to February 2019.

The better news was, however, only marginal with February 2020 sales of 447 units, up 0.7 per cent (three vans) for the month over February 2019.

The TIC said that on year-to-date data, the story is not so positive. It said that after a shocker for the segment in January, LD van sales are down 8.8 per cent, equating to 74 fewer van sales than to the end of February last year.

By Neil Dowling