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CV registration figures
Page 26
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The latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show the CV market is still distorted.
October registrations were up 0.1% to 29.631 and up 0.6% for the year-to-date, while the rolling-year total was down 0.7% to 388,054 units.
"October was a mixed bag for the UK's new commercial vehicle registrations," says SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan.
"The change from Euro-3 to Euro-4 emission standards and the end of the Reduced Pollution Certificate (RPC) scheme dramatically distorted the heavy truck market," he adds.
"Elsewhere medium and heavy vans saw the best October total in the past 10 years a sign of the sustained strength of these new van markets and perhaps the approaching January 2007 deadline for new vans to be Euro-4 emission compliant."
Robin Dickeson, manager of CV affairs at the SMMT. says that uncertainty over the future of the RPC or other environmental initiatives have created spikes in the market. Despite this, he adds, the overall picture for the year remains on track: "The market is where we predicted it would be overall, but if you start to compare month against month it is very difficult to make any sense of it at all.'
Dickeson reports that the SMMT has beer pushing the government to introduce proposals for environmental tax breaks in the Chancellor's forthcoming pre-Budget report: "There is a reasonable argument that as a nation we should be trying to lead by example on issues like this.
"Doing nothing seems to be the alternative, and that's not really viable.
"The government is always open to suggestions but what comes out is the issue. We are continuing to push for incentives for environmentally friendly vehicles, such as early uptake of Euro-5, but its by no means definite at this stage."