Our take on the latest Commercial registrations and activity (Thu 10 Jun 2021)
New light commercials fell 6.6% (seasonally adjusted)
New medium commercials fell 13% (sa)
New very heavy commercials grew 2.1% (sa)
The key numbers...
- There were 4,332 new commercial vehicle registrations in May 2021, 6.9% (seasonally adjusted) less than April. Although this result is weaker than last month, it is still significantly better than a year ago with total new commercial registrations up 59%pa.
- New light commercial registrations were down 6.6%, new medium commercials were down 13%, and new very heavy commercial registrations were up 2.1% (all figures seasonally adjusted).
- Total used commercials were down 2.0% (seasonally adjusted) and were even down 40%pa from May in 2020.
- Total road user charges were up 22%pa, underpinned by 23%pa growth in light commercial road user charges. Very heavy commercial road user charges were up 9.7% and medium commercial road user charges were up 20%pa.
Total new commercial registrations
Annual running total, source: NZTA
...and our reaction
- Commercial vehicle sales activity softened in May, and annual sales still have a reasonable way to go before they reach volumes seen before the pandemic.
- In contrast, total road user charges are now well above levels seen before the pandemic. This pick-up has been driven by light commercial road user charges, which are being boosted by strong private user activity and construction work.
- Difficultly with supply lines and increased shipping costs will be directly limiting sales activity. Longer wait times for stock to arrive will also mean that more money is being put into maintaining the current fleet.
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