Demand for heavy rigid trucks driving market growth

New truck registrations rose by almost 20 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 when compared to the same period last year, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (Transport Operator, June), with 10,363 new trucks of six tonnes gross weight or more going on the road.

The growth was driven by an increase in demand for rigid trucks of over 47 per cent, while demand for three-axle tractors, which have been driving the market for the past few years actually fell by 10 per cent.

But one trend that has not changed is the replacement of lighter vehicles with heavier ones: registrations of rigids over 16 tonnes increased by more than 48 per cent with 4,299 examples being put on the road: much of this demand is coming from companies associated with the construction industry.

Registrations of two-axle artic tractors, used primarily by large supermarket fleets, remained virtually static, reflecting a change in consumer spending patterns from shopping to leisure, cultural and entertainment activities identified by KPMG late last year and predicted to make growth in the retail sector “unlikely” in 2016.

The changing shape of this year’s market is also reflected in the fortunes of the individual manufacturers. While DAF remains market leader, with registrations up year-on-year by over 47 per cent in volume, and market share increased from under 26 per cent to over 31 per cent, there have been some vastly changed fortunes further down-table.

Here the big news is that Scania is now the second-strongest manufacturer in the UK market. Unlike its competitors, it offers trucks only at the heavy end of the market from 18 tonnes up, but the sustained demand for heavier trucks helped it gain the second place that it was only narrowly missing out on this time last year, with an increase in volumes of almost a quarter. Scania, DAF and MAN are the only manufacturers not to have lost share in this growing market.

Fellow Swede Volvo managed a marginal increase in volumes, while, extraordinarily, Mercedes-Benz saw its registrations fall by 26 per cent, with a consequent loss of both market share and table positions.

Scania’s VW Group stablemate, MAN, put last year’s woes behind it with a 70 per cent increase in volumes, overtaking Iveco which managed a volume increase of its own of almost 21 per cent, and getting within two percentage points of Mercedes’ market share.

Renault Truck’s registrations grew by nearly 19 per cent, but it has a long way to go before it can challenge Iveco.

Perhaps rather against the trend towards heavier vehicles, registrations of Isuzu trucks rose faster than the market overall: 239 new trucks represents a rise of nearly 25 per cent for the Japanese manufacturer. Sales of competitor Fuso trucks were up by under 12 per cent by way of comparison.

It’s an often remarked-upon phenomenon that demand for municipal vehicles appears to be entirely independent of what’s going on in the rest of the market – and RCV specialist Dennis has seen its registrations fall by nearly 24 per cent in the first quarter.

The market’s good overall performance in the first quarter of the year would, with seasonal adjustment, indicate a total heavy truck market for the year of 45,400. DAF managing director Ray Ashworth said he expected rather less than that, predicting a total of 43,500.

There’s now a clearer than ever split in the market between major and minor players, with the top four marques providing nearly three-quarters of the volume.

* Rather than providing a monthly total of new trucks registered, the SMMT now just releases quarterly updates, with a considerable delay between the end of the quarter and release. Monthly data remains available promptly from the SMMT for the car and van markets.