argo ur in sales revival
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• After all the uncertainties in the British truck manufacturing industry over the past year, the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders suggest that UK manufacturers are at last beginning to claw back market share.
Registration figures for the first quarter of 1987 show that British manufacturers took 64.38% of the commercial vehicle market, compared with 41.65% in the same period last year.
British manufacturers have enjoyed a 19.49% increase in sales in 1987, while the importers have seen sales drop by 7.18%.
In the light commercial market, British manufacturers have so far sold 43,774 vehicles this year, taking more than 66% of the market (up from 58.4% in the same period last year).
In the truck market, British manufacturers have marginally increased their share, with sales of 8,775 vehicles accounting for almost 61% of sales. This compares with sales of 8,393 vehicles in the first three months of 1986, when British manufacturers took 59% of the market. In March, the British share rose to almost 64% of truck sales.
By far the biggest advance by a British manufacturer is recorded by Ford; sales of its light commercial vehicles have risen by 61.87% so far this year. Sales of the Transit in the first quarter of this year reached 17,894, compared with 10,092 in the first quarter of last year. Sales of the company's Escort and Fiesta vans are together 40.41% up on last year.
Sales of the Iveco Ford Cargo have also risen dramatically, up 37.6% from 1,930 vehicles in the first three months of last year, to 2,656 vehicles in the first quarter of 1987. Much of this strength derives from record sales of 1,615 Cargos in March, which helped to push Iveco Ford to the top of the truck sales chart for the first quarter of 1987, with 23.33% of the over-3.5-tonne market.
Leyland Trucks, which topped the truck sales charts for the first two months of 1987, suffered a slight drop in sales last month and ended
the quarter with a 16.7% market share (compared with 17.86% in the same period last year). Dal s truck sales fell by 5.11% in the first quarter, giving the two companies a combined market share of 21.59% for the first three months of 1987.
Chris Thorneycroft-Smith of Leyland Daf says the dramatic increase in Ford Cargo registrations in the last 10 days of March looks suspicious. "It doesn't do a lot for the industry," he says, "because it will show the market has gone up by X that month and then that it has fallen by X the next."
Tony Smith of Iveco Ford strongly refutes this suggestion: "we've got nothing to hide," he says. "I'm sure we've got them worried! This month we have won a Post Office contract at the expense of our competitors for more than 210 Cargos, including 70 tractors, and that may have something to do with their sore feelings." He admits that Iveco Ford sales for April are likely to show a drop, but predicts: "We will have an amazing May, as a number of contracts come together."
Mercedes-Benz retains its third place in the UK truck market with 1,894 sales, up very slightly on the first quarter of 1986. Volvo retains fourth position with sales rising more than a third to 1,505 vehicles, more than 540 of which were produced in the company's UK plant.
Renault is also enjoying improved fortunes in the truck market with a 13.39% increase in sales reflecting a similar rise in production at its Dunstable plant.
The biggest reversal was experienced by MAN, with sales dropping from 937 in the first quarter of 1986 to 558 in the first three months of this year — a drop of 40.45%.
Ford's impressive showing in the light commercial market over the first quarter of this year appears to have been made at the expense of almost every other light commercial manufacturer. Only Renault (up 17.09%), Fiat (up 28.73%), Freight Rover (up 9.1%) and Mitsubishi (up 4.88%) experienced sales growth in the face of Ford's advance.
Surprisingly, the biggest drop in sales came at Austin Rover, which sold 4,353 vehicles in the first three months of the year, compared to 6,419 last year, a drop of 32.18%. Austin Rover says the company's market share suffered as a result of increased total industry volume, but it expects several large orders to boost its market performance in the coming months.
German and Japanese light commercial manufacturers have also experienced serious declines in sales because they have been forced to raise prices in line with exchange rate changes. Both Mercedes and Volkswagen have suffered a 17% decline in sales, while Japanese manufacturers Mazda, Nissan and Toyota have seen drops in sales of 19.21%, 17.05%, and 14.34% respectively.