It remains a tightly contested race at the top of the New Zealand new truck market with the NZTA registration figures for the first 10 months of 2023 now available.

October registration data shows a slight drop month-on-month (26 down on October 2022) but year-to-date registrations of 5,209 units remain 236 ahead of the previous record of 4,973 YTD registrations achieved in the first 10 months of last year.

The trailer market YTD total now stands at 1,320 – well ahead of last year’s October YTD result of 1,180 registrations but still behind the all-time best of 1,458 units achieved in 2018.

In the overall truck market (4.5t-maximum GVM), Isuzu (1033/98) maintains its YTD leadership, just four registrations ahead of second-placed Fuso (1029/105). Fuso leads the October figures with 105 registrations to claw back some of the lead held by Isuzu.

Hino (660/64) retains third place ahead of Scania (552/60), while fifth, sixth, and seventh is tight with UD (275/27), Iveco (274/30), Volvo (273/28) each separated by one registration. With a strong October result, Mercedes-Benz (248/54) overtakes DAF (207/12) while Kenworth (169/23) rounds out the top-10.

In the 3.5-4.5t GVM crossover segment, clear leader Fiat (247/46) again extended its leadership ahead of Mercedes-Benz (228/23). The race is a lot tighter than last year when Fiat were ahead by 276 registrations and held a 48.9% market share. Fiat’s share this year sits at just 27.6%.

Registrations in the 4.5-7.5t category saw Fuso (539/59) increasing its lead over Isuzu (330/39), with Iveco (146/12) moving into third ahead of Hino (131/20). Fuso currently holds a decent 36.8% share in this segment.

In the 7.5-15t class, Isuzu (443/32) extends its lead over Fuso (181/22), while Hino (173/15) remains third. Foton (68/2) and Iveco (34/7) are well behind the top three. Isuzu’s share in this class currently sits at 46.0%.

In the 15-20.5t GVM category, Hino (91/10) continues to lead, well ahead of UD (49/7) and Fuso (45/7), in second and third. Isuzu (27/2) is fourth ahead of Scania (25/3).

The tiny 20.5-23t GVM division shows only five registrations for October. Hino (18/2) retains the top spot, ahead of Fuso (6/0) and Scania (6/3). Hino currently have a 51.4% share.

In the premium 23t-maximum GVM category, Scania (521/54) continues to build its commanding lead, registering 54 trucks for the month to take its YTD total to 521. Scania continues to increase its market share - from 8.2% in 2019 to 15.1% in 2020, 20.2% in 2021, 18.7% in 2022 and now up to 20.9% in 2023.

Volvo (267/28) moves into second YTD ahead of Fuso (258/17) also showing an increase in market share year-on-year from 6.7% in 2022 to 10.7% in 2023. Hino (247/17) is fourth ahead of Isuzu (230/25). The rest of the market top 10 is also unchanged month on month - Isuzu (230/25) retaining fifth ahead of UD (217/20), DAF (196/12), Kenworth (169/23) and Mercedes-Benz (122/8).

Market leader Fruehauf remains comfortably ahead in YTD trailer sales with 164 registrations YTD and 20 regos in October to lead the market.

Patchell (136/15) retains second position ahead of Domett (104/11), Transport Trailers (92/9) and Roadmaster (92/11) (now tied in fourth), TMC (86/11) and MTE (53/7). Freighter (42/5) were the only mover in the top 10 month on month as they edged ahead of Transfleet (41/4) while Fairfax (32/3) and TES (32/3) are tied in tenth position.