New Zealand’s new truck market continued to be strong in September – staying ahead of last year’s sales. 

The month saw 514 registrations of heavy trucks above 4.5 tonnes GVM, compared to 476 in September 2018.  That carried the year-to-date total sales at the end of September to 4086, compared to last year’s 3965.

The trailer market’s 129 registrations for the month was on par with last year, but the 1164 YTD total after the first nine months lagged a long way behind the 1312 regos at the same point in 2018. 

In the overall heavy truck market (above 4.5t GVM), Isuzu extended its lead, with 111 September registrations pushing its YTD total out to 920, well ahead of second-placed FUSO (646/83), with Hino (545/56) third. 

Mercedes-Benz had a strong month with 59 registrations, taking its 2019 total to 305, for fourth place – ahead of Volvo (240/23), Kenworth (222/18), Iveco (210/32), DAF (201/28), UD (194/21) and Scania (167/35)….the YTD places of the top 13 unchanged from last month.

In the 3.5-4.5t GVM crossover segment, Fiat increased its YTD total to 183, with 25 for the month. Mercedes-Benz (58/6) was next, way ahead of Ford (24/1) and Chevrolet (24/3), tied for third.

In the 4.5-7.5t GVM division, the top six held their places, with FUSO (285/41), further edging ahead of Isuzu (247/33), Mercedes-Benz (159/35), Iveco (116/14) and Hino (96/7). 

In the 7.5-15t GVM segment, Isuzu (385/50) extended its dominant lead, while Hino (181/20) retained second over FUSO (168/24). The rest of the top 10 was unchanged, with UD (38/3) fourth, ahead of Iveco (30/6), Foton (14/1) and Mercedes-Benz (13/2).  

In the 15-20.5t GVM division, Hino (68/8) continued to lead YTD, while UD (42/6) held off FUSO (38/5) for second place. Isuzu (23/5) and Scania (16/3) completed the top five. 

In the tiny 20.5-23t segment, Hino (27/1) held first spot, with FUSO (12/1) and UD (11/0) a very close second and third. Isuzu (4/0) and Scania (3/1) retained their positions with Iveco (1/0) entering the segment. 

In the premium 23t to maximum GVM division, Scania pulled off a big month, with 31 registrations – rating it No. 1 for September and taking its YTD total to 148, moving up to sixth at FUSO’s expense (in the only change to the order in the top 10).

Isuzu, with 23 regos for the month, pushed its 2019 total out to 267 – holding its YTD lead margin on second-placed Volvo (237/23), with Southpac sister brands Kenworth (222/18) and DAF (188/27) next, ahead of Hino (173/20).

Behind sixth-placed Scania (148/31) came FUSO (143/13), Mercedes-Benz (121/19), UD (103/12) and MAN (79/8) – rounding out the top 10.

While trailer market leader Patchell moved further ahead of its rivals – best for the month with 14 registrations and extending its YTD total out to 143 – the contest was hotting up behind it for the rest of the top seven places.

MTE (98/10) held second, but Fruehauf (89/12) overtook Roadmaster (88/9) for third – by just one trailer. Transport Trailers (79/10) joined Domett (79/8) for fifth-equal – just one ahead of TMC (78/5). Transfleet (46/4), TES (43/3) and Jackson (32/2) completed the top 10. 

An analysis of this year’s performances in the overall (4.5t-plus GVM) truck market to the end of the third quarter, in comparison with each of the past four years, unsurprisingly finds that FUSO has been the biggest winner – its market share jumping from 10.5% in 2016 to 15.8% this year.

Other improvers have been Mercedes-Benz (up from a 4.2% share to 7.5%), Kenworth (4.2% to 5.4%), DAF (5.3% to 5.7%), Volvo (5.4% to 5.9%), Iveco (3.9% to 5.1%), Scania (3.2% to 4.1%) and Foton (0.6% to 1.5%).

Of the 11 that lost share, market leader Isuzu went from 28.3% in 2016 to 22.5% this year, Hino dropped from 16.7% to 13.3% and UD from 5.8% to 4.7%. MAN (3.4% to 2.1%), Mack (1.6% to 1.2%) and Freightliner (2.2% to 1.1%) also saw fading shares.