How truck sales boomed in 2015

By Categories: NewsPublished On: Saturday 23 January 2016

daf-hildonLast year, the British truck market enjoyed one of its best years since the heady days of 1988. Projected sales targets were smashed as more than 44,000 new trucks of over six-tonnes gross weight were registered. In recent years, only 2013 (when registrations soared in December as stocks of Euro 5 trucks were cleared) has been better.

In total, the market finished with 44,063 new trucks registered, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders: a 27 per cent increase on 2014’s 34,672. And the top four manufacturers – DAF, Mercedes-Benz, Scania and Volvo – further opened up the lead that they hold over the other marques.

DAF retained the market lead for the twenty-first successive year. It also led two significant market categories: the 7.5-tonne segment and multi-axle rigids.

Scania had the biggest gain in market share. Its traditionally strong sectors, including four-axle rigids (up over 15 per cent) and three-axle tractors (up almost 41 per cent) flourished, and it was market leader in both, winning the three-axle tractor class from Mercedes-Benz. A better performance in what is now almost a niche market, two-axle tractors, saw Merc hold leadership of the tractor market overall.

Interesting things are going on in the 7.5-tonne class. Vehicles of that weight now have the same legislative burden as heavier trucks. In the days when the law regarded them as little more than big vans, the fortunes of the market were often decided by success or failure at 7.5 tonnes, but now it constitutes only just over 10 per cent of the entire market.

Operators have chosen instead to opt either for fewer, heavier trucks to move the same amount of goods, or more smaller and lighter vehicles, many van-derived, which require far less in legislative terms. Witness, therefore, a growth in registrations of 3.5-tonne vans of over 18 per cent to almost 100,000 units, and a 38 per cent increase in demand for two-axle rigids in the 16-18 tonne class.

Registrations of true 7.5-tonners did grow by 5.2 per cent to 4,690, but this is obviously well behind the overall commercial vehicle market. Interestingly, demand for the lightweight Japanese-designed trucks that were driving a substantial part of the 7.5-tonne market in previous years appears to have plateaued: Isuzu’s registrations in the sector fell by 11 per cent, Fuso’s by nearly 10 per cent and Hino’s by 77 per cent.

One reason for this may be a counterattack led by Iveco in the 6-7.4 tonne category, where it offers a van-derived vehicle which can beat almost all the ‘truck’ 7.5-tonners in terms of payload but with a lower gross weight. Iveco takes almost 95 per cent of this market, which now totals over 800 vehicles.

While 7-5-tonne trucks are, in many instances, being replaced by 18-tonners, existing 18-tonne operations appear to be moving up onto 6×2 or articulated platforms, continuing trends of previous years.

While overall registrations of multi-axle rigids grew by over 20 per cent to 8,522, the most significant growth here was in 6x2s, demand for which rose by almost 34 per cent to 3,416. Demand for 6×2 rigid DAFs alone was up by over 67 per cent to 983. To put this number into perspective, it is far more than the total number of 6×4/6 construction and utility chassis sold in 2015, which remained pretty much unchanged at 787 units.

The multi-axle rigid sector is one of the hardest fought in the UK, with just 524 units separating the top four marques.

Four-axle rigids continue as a mainstay of the construction industry, featuring not just as tippers and mixers but also in more unusual formats such as ‘tridems’ (with three-axle rear bogies) which are used as block carriers – and also in specialist fields such as agricultural feed ‘mill and mix’. Demand in the four-axle sector was up over 15 per cent, with leading marque Scania holding an almost 30 per cent share.

But the most significant market sector of all is tractors, with 21,134 new units going on the road in 2015. Of these, just 2,366 were 4x2s, so the market was won and lost in the three-axle sector, which is over 42 per cent of the total of all new trucks over six tonnes.

The clear winner here was Scania, which boosted its volumes by nearly 60 per cent to 4,098 units and 21.8 per cent of the market – just ahead of last year’s leader Mercedes-Benz. There was also strong growth from overall market leader DAF – up 48.4 per cent to 3,093, and Renault Trucks, up over 47 per cent to 1,518.

Indeed, if the registrations of Volvos (which share much common componentry with Renault, both being Volvo Group members) are added together, then Volvo Group actually managed 26 per cent of the UK three-axle tractor market. However, this performance is rather put in the shade by the combined totals of the Volkswagen Group’s two truck makers, Scania and MAN, which between them registered 6,339 units, or over one-third of the market.

Corporate fun with numbers over, what joys might the market hold for 2016?

The legislative tumult appears to be over for the time being, with interesting debates now taking place in the corridors of power about what might constitute Euro 7 – most particularly how a standard might be established to measure fuel consumption/CO2 output in such a diverse field as heavy freight – scheduled to last awhile. So demand for trucks is likely to be very closely linked with the overall performance of the UK’s economy.

However, deliveries of rigid trucks are likely to be curtailed by limited bodybuilding capacity, as type approval legislation has forced some smaller players out of the market, and others are going through lengthy individual approvals on each vehicle built.

Many of the truck OEMs are now running complete vehicle programmes with trucks with popular body styles held for delivery as a ‘ready to work’ product, although so far only DAF has gone as far as to actually fit the bodies in its own factory.

In truth, demand for new trucks is likely to continue at a healthy level for as long as fuel prices and interest rates are low. Euro 6 trucks have generally proved to be far better in terms of reliability and fuel economy than anyone dared hope, and a continuing battle to attract competent drivers is also an incentive for operators to continue to refresh their fleets with attractive new vehicles.

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