MCV sales are flying!

There’s reason for celebration! Medium commercial vehicle (MCV) sales grew by a whopping 33% last month (July). Is this a sign of things to come?

Total sales in the MCV segment (3,5 to 8,5 tonne GVM) last month clocked in at an impressive 790 units; a Hino spokesperson says growth in the freight carrier market is one of the reasons why.

“Our original market forecast expectation was that the MCV market would grow by 6% compared to last year (8 000 vs 7 520 units). For MCV freight carriers, we were predicting 4% growth (4 500 vs 4 311) and we expected MCV panel vans to grow by 9% (3 500 vs 3 209) due to the increased demand for door-to-door deliveries because of the pandemic. But, for the actual market year-to-date, the MCV total market is up by 6,2% as expected, MCV freight carriers are 12,1% up and panel vans are more or less the same. Clearly, the freight carrier market has shown more growth than expected; in July, they grew by 13,7%,” he notes.

In July, the more affordable brands (Powerstar, FAW, and TATA) made a massive impact on the freight carrier market. “This is due to price-sensitive consumers opting for more affordable trucks in tough market conditions. The 33% increase was also due to the sales of the Toyota Quantum/Coaster and Isuzu freight carriers,” comments the Hino spokesperson.

Maretha Gerber, vice president: sales and marketing at Daimler Truck Southern Africa, says that growth in the van segment has positively impacted the MCV market. “Turning to light-duty trucks (LDTs), we see a stable performance from 2021 to 2022, with some potential growth. We do see some activity in certain areas in LDTs – with some big fleets starting their replacements now, which could drive the growth. But overall, we still see the LDT space not growing significantly in 2022,” she maintains.

Mpho Nkhumeleni, senior manager sales CV at Isuzu Motors South Africa, believes that the segment growth is being influenced by replacement cycles and the current completion of purchases postponed during the pandemic. “Growth is in the five-tonne payload subsegment, and this is being driven by how logistic systems are being structured post Covid-19,” he adds. Nkhumeleni believes that this growth will continue for the foreseeable future. “This will happen until the replacements are completed and then the market will settle back in line with economic growth,” he asserts. Like his Hino colleague, he is calling an 8 000-unit MCV market this year.

OEM performance increase YTD compared to 2021

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OEM sales performance Jul 2021 vs Jul 2022

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OEM and model MCV sales breakdown July 2022

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