New Zealand’s new heavy truck market continued its slowdown in March – with sales lagging behind last year’s levels for the third consecutive month. 

The 347 new truck registrations for the month in the overall market (trucks with a GVM of 4.5 tonnes or higher), was 149 down (that’s a drop of almost 30%) on March 2019’s sales. 

And that, in turn, saw the 1045 year-to-date registrations tally at the end of March 19% down on the 1300 for the first three months of 2019.

It’s the lowest first quarter performance since 2016, when 901 trucks were registered.

The heavy trailer market had an even worse month, with just 91 registrations (40% down on March 2019’s 153) for a YTD total of 310 – 61 (and 16%) down on Q1 last year. Like the overall truck market, the trailer industry hasn’t experienced such a bad start to the year since 2016, when registrations equalled this year’s tally.

In the overall truck market (4.5t-maximum GVM), Isuzu not only continued to clearly rule as No. 1, it actually slightly improved its market share (up from 22.4% for Q1 last year, to 23.8%), with 249 registrations – moving further ahead of second-placed FUSO (172/57), Hino (124/34) and Volvo (82/28), in order behind. 

Scania (76/28) and Iveco (67/27) were the only others in the top 10 to improve on their Q1 performances last year – Scania up from 11th and a 2.8% market share, to fifth and a 7.3% share, while Iveco went from 10th to sixth….and from a 4.4% share to 6.4%.

Kenworth (49/12) held seventh place in March, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (47/16), which gained a position at the cost of UD (41/9). DAF (29/11) rounded out the top 10. 

In the 3.5-4.5t GVM crossover segment, Fiat (63/19) consolidated its lead, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (27/13) and Ford (11/5), which moved up to third. 

In the 4.5-7.5t division, FUSO (69/27) edged slightly further ahead of Isuzu (65/25), with Iveco (36/16) retaining third. Hino (19/3) stayed fourth, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (13/5). 

In the 7.5-15t class, Isuzu (118/47) continued to open up a huge lead. FUSO (39/8) was the best of the rest, ahead of Hino (32/7), Iveco (9/3), Foton (2/0), UD (2/0), Mercedes-Benz (1/0) and MAN (1/1).

In the 15-20.5t GVM category, Hino (24/8) extended its lead in March, with FUSO (13/4) overtaking UD (12/2) for second. 

In the tiny 20.5-23t division, Hino (8/4) retained the No. 1 spot, followed by FUSO (4/2) and Freightliner (1/0). 

Volvo’s great start to the year in the 23t-max GVM premium division continued in March, its 30 registrations for the month pushing its YTD total out to 82 and further increasing its lead.

Scania (69/26) overtook Isuzu (61/15) for second place, while the rest of the top 10 held their February places – Kenworth (49/12) in fourth, ahead of FUSO (47/16), Hino (41/12), Mercedes-Benz (29/9), UD (27/7), DAF (25/8) and Iveco (19/7).

In the heavy trailer market, No. 1 Patchell (38/7) retained its YTD leadership, despite being topped in the March registrations by second-placed Fruehauf (31/9), fourth-placed Roadmaster (27/9) and Domett (20/9), which overtook TMC (19/6) for fifth. 

MTE (28/7) remained third, while TES (12/2) held seventh, Transport Trailers (11/3) and Transfleet (11/4) were tied in eighth and Freighter (9/4) completed the top 10.