It’s good news for the manufacturing industry as the number of new heavy vehicles that rolled onto the road for the first time in 2018 increased from the previous year.
This statistic comes courtesy of the Australian Road Transport Suppliers Association, who have just released their market report detailing registrations lodged in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Nearly 44,000 new heavy vehicles were registered during 2018, clearly exceeding the 2017 number which managed just short of 39,000.
This is the biggest quarterly increase the organisation has seen since it started recording this data in 2014.
Making up the numbers are all manner of heavy vehicles, including rigid trucks, buses, prime movers, trailers and special purpose vehicles, each of which saw an increase in registrations compared against the previous period.
However, just as new vehicles are hitting the road there are is also a high number of registrations that are being retired. The turnover rate indicates that the average age of a heavy vehicle on the roads is now around 11.9 years, which is an increase of a whole year compared to the 2014 figures. The means that vehicles on the road are generally being used for longer periods of time. This is great news for those considering investing in a new heavy vehicle, as it means the return on investment will be greater as newly manufactured vehicles will generally provide longer periods of service.
Continuing the math, the latest figures show that there are over 970,000 heavy vehicles weighing 4.5 tonnes or more currently registered. By the conclusion of 2020 there will be over a million of them – an impressive figure.
At The Drake Group we design, manufacture and service a wide range of trailers and have been for over 60 years. We’re proud to be a part of the heavy vehicle manufacturing industry and look forward to working with new and existing customers in 2019 and beyond to move their business forward. Contact The Drake Group today to find out more.
