Good news on sales?
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• The haulage industry appears to be through the worst of the recession with UK truck and artic sales increasing for the fifth month in succession.
According to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders 2,698 trucks and artics were registered during November, representing a 10.5% increase on the same month last year. However at 29,199 the total for the year to date is still down on last year's 30,147. The SMMT figures also show that overall commercial vehicle sales, including vans, buses and coaches, were up 15.25% in November to a total of 15,920. But CV sales for the first 11 months of the year were down 4.4% compared with last year, to 189,031.
"We tend to be more tentative now after a false dawn in January/February this year," says Mercedes-Benz. "But with five consecutive increases it is certainly the most convincing of any information for a long time."
Most of the improvement has come from artic sales, traditionally the first part of the heavy sector to pick up. But the SMMT says that over the past month or two there has also been a significant improvement in sales to two axle-rigids over 15 tonnes.
Six and eight-wheelers are still way down and Iveco Ford reckons the recovery will not take place until the second half of next year