Sales booming
Page 9
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COMMERCIAL vehicle sales look set to equal those for 1980 this year, according to the latest figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
In the first 11 months of this year, 2 52,7 88 commercial vehicles of all categories had been registered, compared with 215,615 in the same period last year. The signs point to a total close to the 272,010 achieved in 1980, the year that the recession first hit commercial vehicle sales.
The growth of 17.2 per cent has been better than expected at the beginning of the year and is already ahead of the total predicted then by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which anticipated total sales of around 250,000 vehicles.
Most of the growth, however, has been at the light end of the market, with sales of light mostly car-derived vans rising by 21.5 per cent to 80,622, medium/heavy vans (still dominated by the Ford Transit) by 17.2 per cent to 110,383, and light 4x4 vehicles by 17.8 per cent to 11,277.
In the crucial over-3.5 tonne category, growth was restricted to 12 per cent, from 42,001 to 47,029, and the final total for the year could still be about 10,000 short of the 61,300 sold in 1980.
Another major difference from 1980 is the relentless penetration by importers. Their share for the year to date is up from the 29.8 per cent in the same period last year to 34.4 per cent, or 24.1 per cent in all of 1980. In the over-3.5 tonne sector alone, the import share this year is 31.8 per cent, against 27.2 per cent in the same period last year. To rub home the impact of importers in this sector, only 21.2 per cent of sales in all of 1980 were imported vehicles.
While Ford is still market leader in all categories except light 4x4 and buses and coaches (see p11), and has secured 21.8 per cent of the sales so far for this year, Leyland did best last month with 740 sales or 18.6 per cent of the November sales. Ford's fell to only 8.8 per cent (350 vehicles), behind Bedford's 14.6 per cent, Karrier's 11.9 per cent, Mercedes-Benz 10.2 per cent, and Volvo's 8.9 per cent.
Ford's performance was the result of a dealer sales competition ending in October. In October, thanks to this drive, it won an unprecedented 37.4 per cent of the market, with many November and December sales brought forward.
Commenting on truck sales' unexpected upturn, Daf Trucks managing director Phil Ives said last week: "Over the last three months there has been much more activity."