A hint of springtime positivity appears in the September registration data released by NZTA.

There were 350 registrations of new trucks with a GVM above 4.5 tonnes in September, the market achieving its highest monthly new registration total to date in 2026. It’s also only the third month in 2026 where new registrations have exceeded 300 units.

The September total is up slightly from 341 registrations in September 2025 but the year-to-date (YTD) total of 2665 units represents a 5.63% decrease on the first nine months of 2025 (2824 registrations).

The trailer market continues to edge ahead of last years’ volumes with September recording 99 registrations, up from 86 in the same month last year. The YTD total of 752 trailer registrations positions the market 8.04% ahead of the 696 units YTD at the same time last year.

In the overall heavy truck market (above 4.5t GVM), Isuzu and Fuso shared September market leadership with 51 new registrations each. Isuzu continues as the YTD leader with 444 registrations while Fuso on 354 climbs into second ahead of Hino (332/27).

Scania (292/34) ranks fourth, comfortably ahead of Iveco (203/56) to complete the top five. Volvo (175/15), Mercedes-Benz (169/35), Kenworth (109/12), DAF (100/8) and UD (100/11) retain their positions from last month to round out the top 10 in the 4.5t to max category.

In the 3.5-4.5t GVM crossover segment, Mercedes-Benz (283/97) still leads the category ahead of Fiat (213/35) and LDV (160/30). The top three brands account for a 78.8% share of this market segment YTD.

In the tightly contested 4.5-7.5t GVM division there is now a tie for leadership with Isuzu (136/15) being joined by Iveco (136/48) in first place. Fuso (135/29) is just one unit behind the leaders while Mercedes-Benz (95/30) is fourth.

In the 7.5-15t GVM segment, Isuzu (186/27) is building a clear lead over Fuso (108/18) and holds 41.3% share of this category, while Hino (90/1) remains in third.

Hino (40/5) continues to lead in the 15-20.5t GVM division with Isuzu (23/0) in second and Fuso (21/2) in third. 

The tiny 20.5-23t segment recorded just three registrations for the month of September with Scania (10/2) now showing a 45.5% share of the category ahead of Hino (6/0). Mercedes-Benz (1/1) joins the category from September. 

The premium 23t to maximum GVM division sees Scania (276/32) continuing to achieve strong sales. Scania’s 276 registrations represent a 21.8% share of the market.

Volvo (174/15) retains second ahead of Kenworth (109/12) in third and Hino (103/11) in fourth. DAF (98/8) retains fifth ahead of Isuzu (97/9), Fuso (89/2), UD (83/8), Mercedes-Benz (70/3) and Iveco (45/3) retaining their positions and rounding out the top 10 brands.

Trailer market leader Fruehauf (121/14) remains in the top spot YTD ahead of Patchell (73/8) and Roadmaster (61/5) in third. Transport Trailers (41/4) continues in fourth ahead of Domett (37/6), while Fairfax (36/5) and TES (36/6) are now tied in sixth ahead of TMC (33/6) Transfleet (27/6), MTE (24/3) and CWS (22/3) to complete the top 10 brands.