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THE LOWEST number of commercial vehicle sales for January since the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders started keeping a tally in 1970 was recorded last month.
The number of sales totalled 16,443 — 31.74 per cent less than in January last year.
Total British sales were 11,406 compared with 18,380, but imported sales decreased only marginally from 5,710 to 5,037. Ford took the largest share of the market with a total of 4,389 (4,084 of those being built in Britain) compared with 9,098 sales (8,741 British) in January 1980.
Due largely to its non-car derived van and over 3.5-tonne sales, Mercedes Benz were the leading importers with 463 sales in January 1981 against 573 for the same month of last year.
Ford was market leader in lorry and artic, car derived van, and non-car derived van sales, while Land-Rover led on light 4 x 4 vehicle sales. Despite heading the field, both Ford and BL sold far fewer vehicles than in January, 1980.