STRONG truck sales are good for the auto industry but warnings continue that the Australian truck fleet remains one of the world’s oldest, and therefore is less safe, is a greater polluter and is a drag on transport productivity.

In its sales report for November, the Truck Industry Council (TIC), while noting the near record sales, has cautioned that the average age of trucks has been at 15 years, as measured in 2021.

TIC CEO Tony McMullan said Australia has one of the oldest truck fleets in the Western world.

“The record sales of last year and pending record sales this year, could not be more important,” he said.

“An old truck fleet is not good for road safety, nor noxious and greenhouse emissions, or for operator productivity. 

“Renewal of our truck fleet can make a significant impact in addressing these safety, environmental and productivity issues. 

“However, we need record, or near record sales to continue for years to come in order to reverse the fleet ageing trend that has been apparent in our market for over a decade now. 

“Reducing the national truck fleet age will bring benefits for all road users.” 

Mr McMullan said it was “pleasing to see the solid sales continue through November, particularly in the Heavy Duty truck segment”.

“Year-to-date we are only 734 trucks shy of an all-time new truck sales record here in Australia and with average December sales in the order of 3400 trucks, it very much appears that a new record beckons come December 31,” he said. 

TIC reports show that at the close of November 2023, new truck sales for the 11 months year-to-date stood at 43,646 – a new record for truck sales to the end of November, but not a new annual record. 

The record is 44,379 sales set at the end of December last year. 

TIC said that with December sales averaging out at about 3400 trucks, it was not difficult to predict that in a month’s time there will be a new annual milestone for Australian truck sales. 

“Even if we apply the worst ever December new truck sales figure of 2498 trucks from 2009, the market will comfortably exceed the market record set in 2022,” TIC said.

The Heavy Duty truck segment was up again in November, continuing a year-long trend, with a total of 1607 units delivered for the month, up 5.8 per cent, or 88 trucks, compared with November 2022. 

“This November result was a new sales record for the 11 month of the year,” TIC said.

“Year-to-date the result is even stronger, with Heavy sales tracking up 17.3 per cent over those of the same period last year, with total Heavy truck sales to the end of November reaching 15,817.

“In terms of actual truck numbers, the sales gap has now stretched to more than 2300 (2332) more Heavy trucks sold year-to-date than in 2022. 

“This is a new record for Heavy Duty truck sales in Australia, eclipsing the year end 2022 record when 14,966 Heavies were sold. This is before we count any December 2023 sales for Heavy Duty trucks.”

In the Medium Duty truck sector, sales have been solid throughout 2023 and that trend continued in November with Medium truck sales well up on the November 2022 result. There were 755 Medium trucks sold in November 2023, up 15.1 per cent (99 trucks) over the same month last year. 

Year-to-date sales in this segment are not quite as strong although they are up on 2022 sales. There were 7280 Medium trucks delivered to the end of November this year, 458 sales ahead of the year-to-date result in 2022. This is a gain of 6.7 per cent over the same period last year. 

The Light Duty truck sector has been up and down all year and November 2023 was another down month for little trucks. In November Light Duty truck sales were down 12.3 per cent (down 182 trucks) over the corresponding month last year. 

There were 1294 Light trucks delivered in November, bringing the year-to-date sales tally in 2023 to 14,979 for the Light Duty truck segment. This is 0.1 per cent, or just 12 trucks, behind the same period last year. 

The TIC said that in 2023, the Light Duty Van segment has been making up lost ground over the poor sales results of 2022 “principally due to the segment being the hardest hit by supply chain issues last year.” 

Despite recovering sales this year, November just past saw slower Van sales than November 2022. There were 568 vans sold in November, down slightly, 2.4 per cent (down 14 vans), over the November 2022 result. 

The TIC said that on a year-to-date basis, the numbers were looking much better for the Van segment with a total of 5570 vans delivered to the end of November 2023, up 12.1 per cent (601 vans) compared with the same period in 2022.