Who's to blame?
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I am delighted to announce that I am the new UK jury member for the InternationalTruck of the Year (IToY). I take over from Brian Weatherley, who made the decision to step down because he wanted to spend less time in airport hotel rooms. This, however; isn't an issue for me: I've got a threeyear-old insomniac daughter; so the more nights I can spend catching up on sleep in hotel rooms, the better!
Brian has done a sterling job, and I thank him for all the exclusive new truck stories and First Drive reports he has supplied to CM over the years. He will continue with his IToY duties until voting for the 2014 winner is complete. This means my first official event is likely to be the Moscow Comtrans show in September; where the winner will be announced. It's certainly going to be a closely fought competition this year; with so many trucks to choose from. And the 2015 competition is going to be just as exciting, as the flurry of truck launches continues.
That said, it's alarming to note that despite the unprecedented number of new vehicles launched recently, UK truck sales are still poor. Everyone expected a major pull-forward of Euro-5 sales to avoid the expense and hassle of Euro-6, but it hasn't materialised.
In fact, according to the SMMT, new truck sales for the first four months of 2013 are 14.6% down on the same period last year.
Can we blame the economy and the lack of available finance, or could it be that UK hauliers have decided that the thought of running Euro-6 trucks isn't as daunting as they first feared?
Will Shiers