Spring registrations up
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• Commercial vehicle registrations rose by over 5% during the first quarter of 1988 to 89,672. This was despite major upheavals in the light and panel van sector caused by the recent Ford strike, which reduced light CV sales in March by 9.4% compared with the same month last year.
In the truck and artic sector above 3.5 tonnes registrations rose by 17.4% during the first three months of 1988 to 16,920. Iveco Ford finished in first place with a 27.3% share (4,626 trucks registered), followed by Leyland Daf with a 21.3% stake (3,606).
Mercedes-Benz is still in third place with 13.7". (2,324), followed by Volvo Trucks with an improved 10.7% (1,807). The recent industrial dispute at Renault Truck Industries' Dunstable plant did little for the company's first quarter figures: its registrations were down to 1,105 at the end of March, leaving it with a reduced 6.5% fifth-place share.
ERF continues to climb steadily up the sales league. In the first quarter registrations leapt by over 70% (it sold 295 trucks in March alone) to give it a sixth-place share of 5.26%.
Scania is in seventh position with 4.8% (813 registrations) followed by MAN-VW with 4.3% (727) and Seddon Atkinson with 3.2% (544). Foden continues to creep slowly upwards with a 1.5% share above 3.5 tonnes (262).
In the lucrative panel van sector between 1.8 and 3.5tonnes (up 1.52% to 38,496) Ford still dominates with a 41.2% share 14,803 vans registered but its sales in March were virtually halved by the strike at its Transit plant.
Freight Rover is in second place with an 11.1% stake (4,276), despite a slight dip in its registrations. Renault is coming on strong with an 8.4% share (3,252 Trafic and Master registrations), followed by Nissan with a 7.3% share (2,102).
Bedford, suffering from the lack of a replacement for its old CF panel van and chassic cab range, has tumbled to sixth place with a 5.8% share.
There is some joy, however, for GM in the car-derived and micro van sector up to 1.8tonnes. With Ford strikebound, GM Vauxhall/Bedford took the opportunity to scramble into first place with a 30.3% share based on 8,626 vans registered during the first three months of the year.