Truck sales growth slowed in September

The truck market in September continued its recovery in annual terms, exceeding 13 thousand vehicles, but rolled back from the record values ​​of the previous month. The industry says that September is traditionally a period of lower demand, noting the impact of rising prices for equipment and financing against the background of an increase in recycling collection and an increase in the Central Bank rate. In general, demand in the market remains high, its participants state, expecting additional recovery at the end of the year.

The truck market in September grew by 89.1%, to 13.7 thousand vehicles, Autostat calculated. The result was 15.6% less than the August market peak, when 16.2 thousand trucks were sold, but higher than previous months. KamAZ is the leader in sales (a drop of 5.1% compared to last year, to 2.55 thousand vehicles), but the Chinese brands in the top 3 sold comparable volumes. Thus, sales of Shacman doubled, to 2.2 thousand cars, Sitrak – five times, to 2.2 thousand units, follows from the agency’s data. Autostat takes into account not only heavy trucks in its statistics.

In September, there are traditionally fewer registrations of trucks, and in October-December their number can reach 16-20 thousand per month, notes BWG Marketing Director Anna Erokhina. In August, tractor units’ share of the heavy-duty truck market was more than 50%, and this trend will continue until the end of the year, she said. “The advantage in favor of tractors appeared already in April. For comparison: at the end of last year, the market for heavy trucks was estimated at 75 thousand units, and the share of truck tractors was 25%, dump trucks – 36%,” she explains. “This ratio is not typical for the market: the share of truck tractors traditionally accounted for at least 40 % of the market.”

The head of Avito Special Equipment, Andrey Kovalev, says that active purchases of trucks are explained, among other things, by pent-up demand for equipment and the growth of the road freight transportation market. “The dynamics of demand were also influenced by the congestion factor of railway transportation,” he notes, explaining the increase in supply by the increase in the share of Chinese brands. At Avito Spetstehnika in the third quarter, the supply of new trucks increased by 110% with demand increasing by 35%. The most popular model was KamAZ 43 118 (11.2% of total demand for new trucks) with an average price of 12.5 million rubles. In second place is the Shacman X3000 tractor with a demand share of 9.8% and an average cost of RUB 9.65 million.

KamAZ told Kommersant that, according to their estimates, more than 13 thousand heavy trucks were registered in September, more than twice as high as a year ago. The concern says that the segment of heavy dump trucks has stabilized, while the segment of long-haul tractors continues to grow. KamAZ will estimate its sales “by mid-October,” but they noted: “Our main activity is aimed at ensuring the country’s transport security, and little equipment ends up on the free market. It is not entirely correct to compare market shares under these conditions.”

Executive Director of Stork LLC (the official representative of Dayun in the Russian Federation) Arthur Soldatkin notes a slight decrease in demand in September for Dayun trucks using gas engine fuel. He cites market saturation and an increase in the cost of financial instruments, primarily leasing, as the reasons. Mr. Soldatkin expects that the traditional surge in demand will occur at the end of the year, after which there will be a lull in the market until spring.

As a result of an increase in the key rate and rates of leasing companies, a decline in sales was observed in early September, says Dmitry Kondrakov, head of the sales department of AAA Trakservice (dealer of MAN, Sitrak, Howo, Isuzu). However, in the second half of the month, demand intensified again. Most requests are for large quantities, he adds.

Vladimir Zhelobov, director of the commercial transport department of the Avtodom Group of Companies and the Autospets Center Group of Companies, says that there is consistently high demand in the heavy equipment market (tractors and dump trucks). “Demand in this segment would be even more active if it were not for the increase in the recycling fee and interest rates on loans and leasing agreements,” he continues. “The key rate of the Central Bank increased from 9.5% to 13%, so all offers became less profitable for customers by at least 4%. And given the fact that even existing customer contracts increased, heavy equipment dealers sold less than expected.” Further development of the situation, he believes, depends on whether the key rate will be increased.

Olga Nikitina