July Registrations Follow June's Lead
Page 52
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Total of New Vehicles Licensed Higher, Although Lorries and Buses Fewer
HOPES engendered by the brighter tone of new registrations of vehicles in June were supported in the following month, when the total of vehicles licensed for the first time rose from 40,989 in July, 1936, to 45,047 a year later. Registrations of goods vehicles and hackneys, however, showed a drop. The total of new registrations for the first seven months of this year was 316.298, including 6,783 goods vehicles, against 296,642 in the comparable period of 1936. The latter figure included 6,988 goods vehicles
Fewer Goods Vehicles.
Last July's total of new goods vehicles licensed stood at 6,783, 265 fewer than in July, 1936. There was a decline in roost of the classes of petrol goods vehicle registered, although rises were recorded in the 1-1f-ton, 2-4-ton and 4-3-ton categories.
Altogether, 672 new 1-1istonners were sold in July this year, against 651 a year ago In the 2-24--ton class the increase was from 2,075 vehicles in July, 1936, to 2,231 in July of this year. The 2i-3-tormers rose from 247 to 302 As a whole, new petrol vehicles registered dropped from 6,681 to 6,463.
Oiler registrations were also rather disappointing, the decline being from 155 in July, 1936, to 123 in the corresponding month of this year. Sales decreased in most sections.
542 A brighter tendency was shown in the division for agricultural vans and lorries, where the rise was from 83 machines to 105; all these machines were petrol-engined.
The increase in the popularity of electries for delivery purposes is reflected in the advance from 49 registrations in July, 1936, to 83 in July of this year. On the other hand, registrations of steamers fell still further from 6 to 1. The total of new goods vehicles licensed included 22 for trailer work, against 18 in July last year.
Better sales of six-wheelers were recorded last July, as compared with the corresponding month in 1936, the increase being from 108 to 129. Last July. 79 rigid six-wheelers were licensed, against 54 a year earlier. and 50 articulated vehicles, compared with 54. Registrations of eight-wheelers, however, fell from 36 to 22.
More new exempt vehicles, such as ambulances, fire-engines, etc., were placed on the road, there being 1,457 in July this year, contrasted with 1,025 a year earlier.
The steady progress in the mechanization of agriculture is mirrored in the big increase in the number of new agricultural engines introduced; July of this year saw 751 appliances of this type licensed, against 431 in July, 1936. Tractor sales also improved from 23 to 42, machines for agriculture increasing from 4 to 22.
On the hackney side, June's improvement in the sale of trolleybuses was maintained, July's new registrations numbering 25, compared with 14 in July, 1936.
The petrol hackneys, however, declined from 532 to 431. Most of the registrations took place in the taxicab class, The most popular size of petrol bus was the 20-26-seater, of which 98 were registered in July this year, contrasted with 80 a year ago.
Oil-engined Bus Drop.
A drop was recorded in the regis trations oil-engined buses, this year's figure of 346 contrasting with 373 in July, 1936. The most popular oiler was the 48-56-seater, although, even in this case, registrations dropped from 205 to 187.
The aggregate for hackneys newly licensed in July this year (802) included 11 six-wheelers, against 9 in July, 1936, when the total for all classes of hackney was 919. Despite the decrease in July, the sales of new hackneys for the first seven Months of 1937 showed an improvement on those of 1936, this year's figure being 5,745, compared with 5,393.