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CV u her crunching
Page 14
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The final 2001 sales figures are in-and once again, the UK truck and van market has shown remarkable resilience with truck sales at their highest level since 1989. We review the winners and losers and have a stab at predicting what's going to happen this year...
• by Toby Clark and Brian Weatberley 2000 was a bumper year for commercial vehicle registrations, with sales outstripping all predictions-the consensus at the beginning of 2001 was that this level of activity could not last.
Most pundits foresaw a drop in sales, and Iveco Ford predicted a truck market down by around 3%. Well, it has happened again: sales figures in many categories have climbed, and truck registrations during 2001 actually increased by almost 3%, to 55,573. The van market did even better, rising by over 6% to more than a quarter of a million vehicles. The combined figures give a total of 309,648 light and heavy commercials-the third highest total ever, and the best registration figures since 1989.
As ever, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has come up with these results-believed to be the fastest and most accurate for any country in Europe-while a breakdown of the figures has come from Iveco Ford. The comments, however, are On own. the peak in September (which was sigr cant, but not surprising) there was subsequent slump: sales kept on comi and are continuing at similar levels those of a year ago.
Buying patterns have changedsome categories, quite significan Sales of eight-wheelers soared, as those of heavy vans, while 3.5-tonn( sold like hot cakes due to the trend • more home deliveries and the shorts of drivers with suitable licences heavier vehicles. By way of contra sales of 7.5-tonners and tractive ur suffered a very slight decline, thou two-axle tractive units rose at t expense of three-axle units now that t VED situation has become clearer.
• PREDICTIONS Iveco Ford always (rather bravely) stir its neck out In January and tries to pr diet the size of the truck market in t coming year. As with last year. it is pm dicting a slight fall, this time to b3,300reduction of just over 4%.
Earnings growth in the UK is expect to fall too, but with low inflation and st low interest rates Iveco predicts a stat economy. The real uncertainties cor from consumer confidence and ti effects of the euro.