New Zealand’s new truck sales hit record-breaking heights last year – eclipsing 2017’s previous best annual result by 105 trucks.

The new milestone for the overall market (trucks with a GVM above 4.5 tonnes) was achieved despite a December sales slump.

That month saw just 315 registrations. Remarkably, that was still 35 up on the same month in 2018 – thanks to that having been the worst December result in six years, putting paid to a likely record that year. 

So 2019’s 5314 total sales amounted to 150 more trucks than 2018’s total…and a modest 2% improvement on 2017’s 5209 former record.

Within last year’s milestone market, Isuzu continued its standout streak as the biggest-selling make on the NZ market….for the 20th consecutive year! 

It was the only one of the top three makes to increase both its market share and volume – with 1261 sales for the year and a 23.73% share (up from 1197 and 23.18% in 2018).

FUSO lost volume and share for the second straight year after its remarkable comeback year in 2017 (when it sold 955 trucks for an 18.33% share) – but still easily held onto second place, with 794 sales and 14.94% of the market.

Hino and Mercedes-Benz, in third and fourth places for the year respectively, each narrowly bettered their 2018 performances….but had small dips in their market shares.

Volvo and Iveco completed the top six in 2019 – improving from seventh and ninth respectively in 2018 as they made gains in both sales and market share.

Kenworth, DAF and UD Trucks each lost volume and share – and dropped one or two places, while Scania held 10th – but with increased sales and a 1.27% improvement in share, to 4.5%.

That share increase was shaded by Sinotruk, which moved up from 15th in 2018 to 12th, with a 1.29% improvement, to 2.01% – albeit from low sales (just 37 trucks) in 2018.

Last year’s trailer market continued to lag behind 2018’s record-setting sales to year’s end, with 87 registrations amounting to the worst December figures in six years.

The year thus ended with 1520 new heavy trailers registered – 11.3% down on 2018’s alltime best tally of 1714 sales.

In November and December, Isuzu increased its 2019 overall market lead on the rest with 221 registrations – good enough for a 29.5% share for the two months.

Hino (711/109) did second-best in the closing months of the year, but was still well shy of threatening FUSO (794/88) in the 2019 year standings.

Iveco had a good last two months, with 50 registrations to carry its annual total to 294 and sixth place – behind Mercedes-Benz (389/48) and Volvo (297/20), while Kenworth (265/25) held seventh through the end of the year.

In the only change in the 2019 top 10 order through the last two months of the year, UD (260/44) moved clear of DAF (239/23), leaving it in equal-eighth place with Scania (239/43).

In the crossover 3.5-4.5t GVM market segment, longtime sector No. 1 Fiat dominated in the closing months, with 49 November/December registrations to take its 2019 total to 257 – claiming over half of the market! Mercedes-Benz (94/28) was way back….and in turn held a huge margin on third-placed Chevrolet (30/3) and Ford (30/6).

In the 4.5-7.5t GVM sector, Isuzu (350/70) had a big finish to catch and edge ahead of former leader FUSO (348/38). Mercedes-Benz (204/21) was third for the year, followed by Iveco (162/26) and Hino (127/25). 

In the 7.5-15t segment, Isuzu (528/90) extended its runaway hold on the top spot, way ahead of Hino (237/32) and FUSO (208/28). Well behind were UD (45/7), Iveco (39/3) and Foton (23/3).

In the 15-20.5t division, Hino (89/14) was the clear market leader, ahead of UD (56/8), FUSO (48/4) and Isuzu (32/6). Then came Scania (20/2), Iveco (16/4) and Mercedes-Benz (15/1).

In the tiny 20.5-23t category, Hino (37/10) finished the year well ahead of UD (18/3) and FUSO (15/1).

In the premier 23t-maximum GVM class, Isuzu mirrored its No. 1 status in the overall market with the best November/December performance – its 54 registrations taking its 2019 total to 346.

Interestingly, the heavyweight division didn’t match the overall market’s record-setting effort, with last year’s 2464 registrations falling 49 short of the segment’s 2515 sales in 2018.

The order of the 2019 top 10 in the 23t-max GVM segment was unchanged through the last two months, with Volvo (293/20) remaining second, followed by Kenworth (265/25) and DAF (224/22). 

However, Scania had a standout closer to the year, with 41 registrations taking its 2019 total to 216 – Hino narrowly holding it out of fifth place with a strong 28 November/December performance that carried it to 221 for the year…ending-up just three behind DAF.

FUSO (175/17) was seventh for the year, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (156/25), UD (141/26) and MAN (97/9). Sinotruk (95/22) had a strong finish that saw it just two sales outside the top 10 for the year.

Comparing performances last year to 2018 rankings, sales and market shares, Volvo was the only one of the top five makes in the 23t-max GVM sector to improve both volume and share last year.

It sold 20 more trucks than in 2018 and claimed an additional 1.05% share, with 11.9% – moving up from third in 2018 to second, at Kenworth’s expense. 

Market No. 1 Isuzu, third-placed Kenworth and next-ranked DAF and Hino were each down on sales and market share. 

Scania was the biggest improver – jumping from a 5.84% share in 2018, with 147 sales, to 8.8% and 216 regos last year. It lifted one place, to sixth, at FUSO’s expense.

Eleventh-placed Sinotruk made the next-greatest gains – increasing its sales from 32 to 95 and its share from 1.27% to 3.9%. It moved up from 13th in 2018.

Mercedes-Benz, up from 9th to 8th at UD’s expense, also did well: It sold 156 trucks (compared to 120 in 2018) and took a 6.3% share (up from 4.77%). MAN, Iveco and International each achieved small improvements in their sales and market shares.

In the trailer market, although it only registered 11 trailers in November and December, Patchell easily notched-up its 10th consecutive year as No. 1 – with 171 sales and an 11.3% market share.

In an overall market that was 11.3% down, its registrations did however drop 18.5% compared to 2018’s 210, and it lost 1% of its market share. 

But it was still 36 sales ahead of second-placed MTE (135/24), which moved up from third in 2018 – almost matching its 138 registrations from the previous year and increasing its market share (by 0.8%) to 8.9%

Fruehauf (127/23) was nudged back to third, ahead of Roadmaster (106/8) and Domett (105/19) – both of whom slightly improved their market share…while Transport Trailers (105/16) moved up from seventh to fifth-equal with Domett, gaining 16 sales and an extra 1.7% share.

TMC (91/7) dropped one place from 2018, but picked up an extra 0.5% share, while Transfleet (61/10), was up two places, into 8th, with a one-trailer improvement on 2018 and an extra 0.5%. TES (60/11) jumped four places, to 9th, with 21 more registrations and a 1.6% share improvement. Jackson (39/5) moved up one to complete the top 10.

MaxiCUBE (21/5) dropped from 8th to 15th-equal, Freighter (38/9) slipped from 9th to 11th and Fairfax (20/4) was down five places, to 17th-equal.