Registrations increase II%
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by Ian Wylie • Truck makers and dealers are looking forward to 1995 following a 17% rise in the sale of new commercial vehicles last month.
Figures for the first 11 months of this year show an increase in sales of new commercials by more than 15% and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders predicts sales will rise by another 8% to 240,500 during 1995. Sales of trucks above 3.5 tonnes are expected to show an even healthier rise during the next 12 months—the SMMT predicts a further 10% rise to 46,500.
Buyers are also returning to the used commercial vehicle market and the LGV sector in particular, according to finance analyst HP!. It recorded a 20% boost in the number of used trucks bought on finance over the first 11 months of this year to 15,714.
Truck manufacturers in the UK have responded to improving domestic demand by raising production by almost 17% in the first nine months of this year. The recovery has been from a very low base: production levels last year fell to their lowest since 1948. According to the SMMT, total production of commercial vehicles in the UK will rise to 229,000 in 1995 (22,400 will be trucks over 3.5 tonnes), a rise of 6% but still only half the level of output when CV production peaked in the late 1960s at 466,000.
Iveco Ford, which had raised output by 16% at the end of the third quarter of 1994, expects to increase production by another 2025% next year.
ERF's total production increased by a quarter during the first nine months of this year and the manufacturer says it intends to raise output by at least another 10% in the New Year. The Cheshire-based manufacturer last week reported a pre-tax profit increase of £801,000 compared to a £479,000 loss last year in its half-year results to 1 October.