New sales evening out
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THE DROP is sales of new commercial vehicles showed its strongest sign so far of bottoming out last month, with sales down by under three per cent and importers' sales up by over 11 per cent.
The monthly figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that 19,048 new commercials were registered in October, compared with 19,577 in October 1980, a drop of 2.8 per cent. In the year to date, sales are down 21.4 per cent on the first ten months of 1980. But within this figure, British manufacturers' sales fell from 14,640 in October to 12.116 last year, and importers' sales rose from 4,937 to 6,832.
Sales of trucks and antics fell very slightly from 4,065 to 4,062, but British-built vehicles fell from 3,284 to 2,896, while importers' sales rose from 781 to 1,116.
Ford increased its lead over General Motors and Leyland with sales rising from 836 to 981 (Dutch Transcontinentals fell from 13 to 9). Bedford (GM) crashed from second to third place with 535 sales (ex-762), and Leyland sales fell from 733 to 604.
Volvo, DAF, Mercedes-Benz, IVECO, and Seddon Atkinson all, increased their sales, OAF climbing from tenth to eighth place, Mercedes from eighth to sixth, and ERF falling from seventh to tenth.
Although sales of non car-derived vans rose from 8,541 to 9,121, British manufacturers suffered a drop.