Australia’s new heavy vehicle market has delivered its third-best sales result on record, despite a year marked by economic pressure and a wave of transport company closures that reshaped buying behaviour across the sector.
According to the latest data released by the Truck Industry Council (TIC), total new truck and heavy van sales for the 2025 calendar year reached 45,191 units with Isuzu again the dominant force for the 37th straight year.
While this total represented a fall of 6086 vehicles, or 11.9 per cent, compared with the all-time record set in 2024, TIC said the end-of-year result remained strong given broader economic conditions.
Throughout 2025, a number of transport operators exited the industry, releasing a significant volume of late-model, high-quality used trucks into the market at competitive prices.
TIC said this influx of used vehicles displaced a portion of new truck sales, particularly at the heavier end of the market.
“Despite the challenging economic environment that prevailed across the Australian economy in 2025, it was pleasing to see new truck sales hold up well in 2025,” said TIC CEO Tony McMullan.
“It was equally pleasing to see sales well into the forty thousands. The 40,000 barrier was only broken relatively recently in 2018. This was tempered somewhat due to Covid and the ensuing global supply chain disruptions. However, sales are now consistently continuing above this mark.”
For the fourth year in succession, dealers have celebrated record, or near record sales: 2022 – 44,379, 2023 – 47,757, 2024 – 51,277 and now 2025 with 45,191.
Overall, the heavy-duty segment felt the headwinds more than most in 2025 with its total of 14,297 trucks delivered, down 16.7 per cent, or 2855 trucks on the record 2024 numbers.
Heavy-duty sales for December and 2025. Graphic: TICTotal heavy-duty sales also fell behind those of the lights for the first time in 10 years.
Although down on its 2024 total of 3774, Kenworth again came out on top in 2025 with 3347 trucks delivered and a 23.4 per cent total market share, up from 22 per cent in 2024.
Volvo clung on to second spot overall with 202 sales in December and a 2025 tally of 2326, a dip of 789 on its final total in 2024.
Australia’s biggest selling brand Isuzu rounded out the top three with another solid year in a category it’s never set out to dominate, with a gap back to Scania in fourth and the late-charging DAF in fifth.
DAF made a notable ascent up the rankings in 2025, soaring from 12th with 595 sales and 3.5 percent of the market in 2024 to end the year with 611 and a market share of 4.3.
The medium-duty (MD) sector saw a similar easing of sales in 2025 when compared to 2024, that was particularly evident in December sales of just 445 units.
That was 261 less sales over the same month in 2024, a decrease of 37 per cent.
The fourth quarter MD segment result of 1396 was also well down on the final quarter 2024 result of 2107 units, by 711 trucks, or -33.7 percent.
Overall sales for December and 2025. Graphic: TICIn 2025 medium truck sales accounted for just 12.2 per cent of all new heavy vehicles sold in Australia, less than half of the MD segment’s peak of 30.9 per cent set in 2001.
The light-duty (LD) segment performed better than other sectors in 2025, accounting for 33.1 per cent of all heavy vehicle sales last year, however was still down when compared with the sales recorded in 2024.
A total of 13,712 lights were delivered last year, a fall of 5.8 per cent, 846 fewer, light truck sales than in 2024. Looking solely at the month of December 2025, sales were up 1.7 per cent over December 2024 with 1183 new light-duty trucks delivered, 20 more trucks than December 2024.
The fourth quarter 2025 total of 3799 LD truck sales was also slightly up on the quarter four 2024 result by 1.0 per cent (68 more trucks), highlighting the strong LD sales in the back half of last year.
Of the 13,712 lights delivered, 50.6 per cent of those (6941) were Isuzus.
TIC also released its first alternative fuel type report with sales numbers from December and 2025 in NSW.
Alternative fuel numbers for December and 2025. Graphic: TICThis report adds additional detail to the Low and Zero Emission Truck Dashboard on the Truck Industry Council website.
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