Crediflex Recently Registered

Hard on the heels of the trans-Tasman travel bubble being confirmed by the Government, came positive signs in New Zealand’s new truck and trailer markets.

Maybe, just maybe, the industry is returning to some semblance of pre-COVID 19 normality. 

The March Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency statistics on new truck registrations (4.5 tonnes to maximum GVM) showed a promising upturn.

Not only was the 503-truck total healthily up on February (321) – and on March last year (347)….

It also improved on the 495 registrations back in March 2019 – a time when COVID 19 was still many months away from even entering our vocabulary. And that has made this March performance... ... 

COVID-19 crashed the New Zealand new truck market again in February… unsurprisingly.

There was little comfort in the fact that the 321 total of new truck registrations in the overall market (4.5 tonnes to maximum GVM) for the month was 26 up on January’s disappointing tally – and also narrowly topped February 2020’s total.

But, keeping it real, in comparison to the alltime best February sales, achieved in 2019, the February 2021 figure was 68 trucks and 17.5% behind that 389-truck milestone.

Likewise, the 616 total registrations for the first two months of this year were 11.74% behind 2020’s 698 at the same point – and almost 23.5% behind 2019’s record.

NZ Tran... ... 

New Zealand’s new truck market had a weak start to 2021 – not unexpectedly in the ongoing COVID climate of uncertainty….

But FUSO, on the other hand, had a very strong January – edging out Isuzu, the longtime New Zealand No. 1 in the overall market (trucks with a 4.5 tonnes-plus GVM), to top the registration statistics for the month.

Official NZ Transport Agency data shows that there were 295 trucks registered for the month – 23.1% down on the 384 sales in January last year.

FUSO, which was second to Isuzu in the overall market last year (but well behind – 622 sales to 978), notched up 60 registrations in January.

That was four more than it sold in the same mon... ... 

What a difference a year makes! This time 12 months ago, Recently Registered was all about the New Zealand new truck market’s just-completed recordbreaking year.

The new benchmark from 2019 saw the overall market (trucks with a GVM above 4.5 tonnes) reach 5314 sales – 105 more than 2017’s former alltime record.

Then came COVID-19 – throwing 2019’s record sales into sharp relief. That, of course, is no surprise – it’s been a matter of awaiting the official NZ Transport Agency registration statistics for November and December to see just how bad it had been.

The answer is….it was, officially, the new truck industry’s worst year since 2016. In the overall market it amou... ...