BACK TRACKS

A SALES BOOM WE ALMOST CAN’T BELIEVE BUT HAVE TO RESPECT

The latest truck sales figures underline what a major part trucks are clearly playing in the surge in our economy over the past 12 months.

It is almost difficult to comprehend that the truck market is currently near line ball with the half year sales figures for the record setting year of 2018. June 2021 was also the best monthly sales figures in the history of the truck industry in this country.

Anyone who says they predicted, at the end of May last year, that a new truck sales record was a possibility 12 months hence, is having a lend, because amidst all the gnashing of teeth that was going on back then, no one could have predicted this sort of bounce back.

But, the fact is, no one buys trucks just for the sake of it, or as an act of patriotic altruism to boost the economy, or even just for the tax write off benefits the government is offering.

Trucks represent a big investment, buying a new truck is not the same as buying a new printer at Officeworks to get a $500 tax write off, sure you get the tax benefit but if you’re spending say $300,000 on a new truck you’re going to want to have some work for it to justify the spend. No use getting a tax break if you are not earning money to pay the tax that you want to write off.

The reality is demand for trucks has never been higher, whether for freight distribution to cart all of the toilet paper that is so in demand, or for groceries, fuel, retail supply. online shopping goods and of course the last-mile delivery of all of that online shopping.

Then there are the massive infrastructure projects that have been ramped up by state and federal governments as a stimulus to the economy, and lets face it because we damn well need them for a more efficient nation. Everything from Sydney’s WestConnex motorway and new second airport to Brisbane’s Cross River Rail, Melbourne’s Westgate Road Tunnel and Metro Rail Tunnel projects and Sydney’s Western Harbour Tunnel and multiple Metro train lines, along with a myriad of other projects from tunnels under the Blue Mountains and Coffs Harbour to the Inland Rail line.

The top dozen national infrastructure projects underway at the moment are worth close to $100 billion, which also means an awful lot of dirt has to be shifted, a massive amount of concrete needs to be poured and tonnes and tonnes of steel have to be delivered, and all of those things have to happen on the back of trucks, which is why the demand for them in all shapes and sizes has gone through the ceiling.

The benefit of an influx of new trucks into the market is that it provides a huge update to the national ‘truck park’ , re equipping the ageing fleet and injecting better safety, cleaner power trains and more efficient trucks onto our roads, which is something that will benefit this country enormously in terms of saved lives, reduced fuel use and emissions and just plain efficiency improvements.

When the government does remove the tax write offs sales will probably dip a little but all of the major truck brands are telling us that the order books are full well into next year, and this demand will continue for some time to come.

Meantime, inside this issue we take a close look at the Brisbane Truck Show, the biennial truck expo that somehow survived Covid, the pullout of Volvo Group, Isuzu and Hino and still put up a pretty impressive effort for the truck industry.

Along with that we have drives in the new Mack Anthem and SuperLiner, Scania’s R540 13 litre and one of SEA Electric’s battery electric powered Hinos, as well as Iveco’s Daily, converted to cart a mobile home around on its back.

In the light commercial realm we test the new Volkswagen Transporter range and we take a look at a Sydney providore who is a convert to the seemingly unloved and ignored Hyundai Mighty light duty truck, ordering a fleet of them and convincing a number of other providores at the Sydney market to buy them as well, might be something in that!

So enjoy the read, drive safely and keep buying those trucks! See you next issue.

JON THOMSON