Our take on the latest Commercial registrations and activity (Mon 11 Feb 2019)
A total of
4,618
Commercial vehicles registered in January 2019
Total commercial vehicle registrations in January 2019 down 1.5%pa
Used light commercial vehicle registrations down 15%pa
The key numbers...
- January’s strong result for medium and very heavy commercial registrations might have been artificially inflated by dealers delaying sales, as they had already met targets for the previous calendar year.
- Nevertheless, the result also follows on from an upturn in business confidence towards the end of 2018 – a factor we believe will boost new light commercial registrations this quarter.
- Registrations of used light commercial vehicles are being affected by supply restrictions due to stinkbug biosecurity concerns. The stinkbug season is expected to run until March.
- The January figures are making our current new very heavy vehicle registration forecast for the March 2019 quarter look overly pessimistic, but the series has been somewhat volatile for the past year, and the trend remains firmly downward.
Commercial vehicle sales
12-month APC
...and our reaction
- January saw a surge in medium and very heavy commercial vehicle registrations compared with a year earlier, which offset big falls in December.
- Medium commercial vehicle registrations rose 27% in January 2019 compared with a year earlier. New medium commercials were up 44%, the strongest annual growth in almost a year, while used medium commercials rose 11%.
- Very heavy commercial vehicle registrations grew 21% in January 2019 compared with a year earlier.
- Light commercial vehicle registrations fell 4.1% in January 2019 compared with a year earlier, with new light commercials falling 1.6% and used light commercials down 15%
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