COVID-19’s negative effects on New Zealand’s new truck market, unsurprisingly, continued in September. 
The 378 registrations for the month in the overall market (over 4.5 tonnes GVM) was similar to August’s tally (down 21, in fact) but, more tellingly, was a long way off the 514 registrations in September last year. 
And the 3024 registrations year-to-date after nine months amounted to a 26% fall from last year’s 4086 sales at the same point. 
The trailer market for 2020 was (again unsurprisingly) down on last year – by 20% - in the year-to-date tally at the end of September (with 928 registrations YTD this year, compared to 1164 in 2019). There was some good news: The 133 September registrations total was up from 112 in August.
In the overall truck market, longtime No. 1 Isuzu (730/79) ever so slightly improved its lead, albeit with 30 less registrations than in August. FUSO (443/77) and Hino remained second and third YTD respectively, while Scania (225/33) overtook Volvo (207/14) to take fourth position. The order of the rest of the top 10 was unchanged, with Iveco (206/25) sixth, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (166/27), Kenworth (126/11), DAF (122/19) and UD (100/7).
In the 3.5-4.5t GVM crossover segment – which is still ahead of last year’s YTD total registrations at the same point (377 to 362) – Fiat (205/36) extended its lead, while Mercedes-Benz (70/10) easily held onto second, ahead of Chevrolet (29/2), Renault (23/2) and Ford (19/0). 
In the 4.5-7.5t GVM division, Isuzu (210/22) had its lead margin cut by a closing FUSO (208/39) – the latter better than doubling its August registrations. Iveco (111/14) remained third, followed by Hino (83/14), while Mercedes-Benz (47/9) moved ahead of Foton (44/5) for fifth.  
In the 7.5-15t GVM class, Isuzu (330/30) continued to go away from its rivals. All of the rest held their YTD positions, with Hino (109/16) second and FUSO (89/7) third – well ahead of Iveco (33/3) and Foton (16/4).
In the 15-20.5t GVM category, Hino (74/2) continued to hold a dominant lead, even though second-placed FUSO (32/9) did best in September registrations. UD (21/2) held third, while Iveco (13/4) jumped from sixth to fourth, at the expense of Mercedes-Benz and Scania (both 12/0).
In the tiny 20.5-23t GVM division Isuzu (24/13) better than doubled its YTD total registrations, to overtake Hino (19/3) for the lead. FUSO (10/4) remained third.  
In the premium 23t to maximum GVM division, Scania (212/33) had a big month to take the No. 1 spot YTD from Volvo (207/14). It rates as the make’s best performance in years.
The order for the rest of the top six was unchanged, with Isuzu (158/11) third, ahead of Kenworth (126/11), DAF (110/14) and Hino (108/14). FUSO (104/18), previously tied with Mercedes-Benz (103/17) for seventh-equal, pipped its rival by one sale, thus Merc dropped to eighth. UD (72/5) and Iveco (49/4) completed the top 10. 
Trailer market leader Patchell (102/14) cracked a 2020 milestone in September – over one hundred new trailers registered so far this year.
It was again edged for the month by Domett (88/16) – for the third consecutive month – while Fruehauf (78/12) remained third. MTE (73/13) moved up to fourth, narrowly demoting Roadmaster (71/7), while Transport Trailers (50/9) relegated TMC (48/5) from sixth to seventh. Freighter (39/2), Transfleet (37/6) and TES (33/6) completed the top 10.