New Zealand’s new heavy truck market continued to slow in February – with sales down for the second month in a row.

The 314 new truck registrations for the month – in the overall market (trucks with a maximum GVM of 4.5 tonnes and above) – was 75 down on the same month last year (which, granted, did set an alltime February best).

And that, in turn, saw the 698 registrations total for the first two months of 2020 13.29% behind 2019’s 805 at the same point.

NZ Transport Agency registration statistics show that the heavy trailer market continued to be pretty similar to the start of 2019 – the 219 registrations for the first two months of 2020 just one ahead of last year’s total at the same point.

In the overall 4.5t-maximum GVM truck market, Isuzu – with 162 YTD and 83 for February – continued a positive start to 2020, claiming a 23.2% market share. 

FUSO (115/59) was firmly in the No. 2 spot, followed by Hino (90/38) and Volvo (52/14).

Scania (48/25) remained in fifth position, ahead of Iveco (40/19), which overtook Kenworth (37/15). UD (32/17) also took one position at the cost of Mercedes-Benz (31/10), while DAF (18/7) rounded out the top 10. 

In the 3.5-4.5t GVM crossover segment, Fiat (44/18) consolidated its lead, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (14/7) and Chevrolet (7/2). 

In the 4.5-7.5t segment, FUSO (42/25) edged ahead of January co-leader Isuzu (40/23), with Iveco (20/11) retaining third. Hino (16/7) stayed fourth, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (8/2). 

In the 7.5-15t class, Isuzu (71/38) continued to open up a huge lead – to the extent that its registrations for the first two months were more than the combined sales for the other seven makes in the class.

The also-rans were FUSO (31/14), Hino (25/11), Iveco (6/3), Foton (2/0), UD (2/1), Mercedes-Benz (1/1) and MAN (1/1).

In the 15-20.5t GVM category, Hino (16/6) led clearly at the end of February, ahead of UD (10/6), FUSO (9/2) and Isuzu (5/1). 

In the tiny 20.5-23t division, Hino (4/3) retained the No. 1 spot, followed by FUSO (2/1) and Freightliner (1/0). 

While Volvo’s great start to the year in the 23t-max GVM premier division slowed in February, its 14 registrations for the month were still enough to see it retain the lead, with 52 sales. Isuzu (46/21) held onto second place, while Scania (43/21) went ahead of Kenworth (37/15) for third. 

FUSO (31/17) overtook Hino (29/11) for fifth, while Mercedes-Benz (20/7) held seventh – joined now by UD (20/10), which was up from ninth, having gone ahead of DAF (17/7). Iveco (12/4) went from 11th to 10th-equal with MAN (12/8), which was up from 14th. Sinotruk (11/2) slipped from 10th to 12th-equal with Mack (11/4).

In the heavy trailer market, No. 1 Patchell (31/11) retained a clear lead, ahead of Fruehauf (22/9). MTE (21/11) moved up a place, into third, at the expense of Roadmaster (18/8).

TMC (13/9) jumped up from eighth to fifth, while Domett (11/5) dropped from fifth-equal to sixth and TES (10/4) dropped two spots, to seventh. Transport Trailers (8/5) gained a spot for eighth, Transfleet (7/2) dropped two, to ninth and Freighter (5/2) and Tidd (5/4) shared 10th place.