Truck market slows as industry council calls for incentives

Ford saw increased sales of its Transit van range despite a year-on-year decrease in the Australian heavy commercial vehicle market

AFTER consecutive years of record heavy commercial vehicle sales, the Australian market got off to a slow start to 2025, with sales down compared to January 2024.

The decrease comes just weeks after Tony McMullan, CEO of the Truck Industry Council (TIC), called for the Australian Government to incentivise new models, ahead of this year's Federal election.

Previously, Mr McMullan said both industry and government should consider what can be done to boost sales, with a goal of reducing the average age of the Australian truck fleet, after registration data showed it to be over 14 years.

"The Truck industry Council, and our members, remain concerned that the average age of the Australian truck fleet remains much older than that of Europe and North America," he explained.

"An old truck fleet is not conducive to improved safety, public health and environmental outcomes for our society."

The overall market shrank by 4.5% for January 2025 compared to the same period last year, although heavy truck sales began to slow in the second half of 2024, with the trend continuing in the new year.

While there was a market reduction, for some manufacturers, notably Isuzu and Kenworth, it remained business as usual, with both brands recording growth compared to their 2024 results.

For other brands though, the news was not as good, with Fuso (12.8%), Hino (8.3%) and Volvo (27.9%) all down on their January 2024 results.

Other to suffer major reductions were Freightliner (61%), Iveco (43%) UD Trucks (36.9%) and DAF (55%), although MAN (36%) and FIAT (50%) both enjoyed significant year-on-year growth.

Van sales were similarly mixed, with previous top sellers LDV (24.5%) and Volkswagen (83.9%) both seeing massive falls in sales and market share, while Ford (35%) and Mercedes-Benz (30.6%) not only claimed increased market share but saw growth in their actual sales.

Although January is often a 'slow' month for deliveries and sales, due to suppliers enjoying a Summer hiatus, the year-on-year reduction does not bode well for another sales record in 2025.