The truck industry in 2022 is starting off on a high note with positive sales figures just from January alone.

Numbers from January 2022 are ahead from the previous year, with all heavy, medium, and light market segments doing well. In this article, you’ll find out the brands that are selling the best, just how well the truck industry is doing this first quarter of 2022, and more. Find out which trucks you should really sell and by how much you can expect your business to grow this 2022.

Let’s get started!

Australia’s Truck Industry Figures January 2021 to 2022

According to the Truck Industry Council (TIC) T-Mark research, January 2022 benefitted from an overall increase in vehicle licensing compared to the previous year. There were 2,148 new commercial vehicles registered in January 2022, which is a 7.5% increase from last year. The light-duty sector increased by 5.3%, the medium-duty went up by 15%, and the heavy-duty sector increased the most of the three by 23.5%. Even compared to the figures from 2019, before the pandemic hit, the increase in 2022 looks promising—if not better.

Light-duty trucks were in higher demand at the start of the pandemic, 2022 looks to focus more on medium and heavy-duty trucks for new prospective buyers. Despite the positive news, we have to take into account that the sales may be skewed because of the availability of new vehicles. The majority of car dealerships and brands are also suffering from microprocessor shortage and global supply issues.

It’s likely that most manufacturers and dealers still have extensive order lists that are on hold and unfulfilled.

Best-Selling Truck Brands in Australia 2022

For those of you who are looking to buy a truck this year, it’s important to see which brands are performing the best. We’ll be listing out the brands that perform the best in each category, measured in total amount of new vehicle registrations. The percentage increase here refers to the January 2022 and January 2021 figures.

Heavy-duty Vehicle Registrations

Starting with the sector that has the most sales, the heavy-duty category:

Kenworth tops the list with over 150 new registered vehicles, while Isuzu comes in second place. Still, it’s good to keep note that Isuzu has a higher percentage increase than Kenworth, with over 57% increase. Nowhere near Mack and UD Trucks are 190% and 125% though, respectively.

Medium-duty Vehicle Registrations

For the medium-duty vehicles, here’s what happened the past year:

Without a doubt, Isuzu is doing the best in the medium-duty sector. They have the most vehicles registered and have the 2nd highest percentage increase from last year. When you count Mercedes only having 6 vehicles compared to Isuzu’s 210 though, it’s easy to forgive getting second place. Hino and Fuso are close behind Isuzu, despite having unfavorable increases. -14% and 16% respectively. IVECO is in fourth place, with only 10 vehicles registered. 50% less than last year.

Light-duty vehicle registrations

You can’t forget about light-duty vehicles, despite their sales paling in comparison to the medium and heavy-duty markets.

Isuzu is first with a whopping 285 vehicles. Although it’s only a 3% increase from last year, you can consider it a success for them to register and sell as many as 285 vehicles. Fuso and Hino come close for second and third place, with 18% and -7% increase/decrease respectively. IVECO and FIAT on the other hand, only registered in the double digits, yet scored the highest percentage increases from their performance last year.

Why Cars Are Selling Well

There are several reasons why cars are selling well, but the three major factors that affect this are the low interest rates, less traffic from COVID, and government incentives for investments.

The official cash rate at the moment is at an all-time low, with interest rates being near dirt-cheap. Unfortunately, it won’t remain this way for long with talks about the cash rate increasing somewhere from May to August.

As for the investment incentives, the Federal Government has placed an emphasis on tax deductions for investments like cars.