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VAN SALES ARE PICKING UP
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Page 61
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As 2006 recedes into the rear-view mirror of history, CM takes a close
look at the fads behind the light commercial sales figures.
The onset of digital tachographs and Euro4 engines gave the truck market a nasty jolt in 2006, but there were no such dramas in the world of light CVs. Our figures, which include vans up to 3,500kg and pickups, but not the small number of minibuses and 4x4 vans,show a 5.7% rise from 85,042 in 2005 to 89.908.
Hatchvans and CDVs Sales of the ubiquitous Astravan were some way off Vauxhall's target of 12,000 a year. but it maintained its first-half progress to end up at 8,529 units. Diminishing sales of almost every other major player and the disappearance of the previously second-placed Suzuki Carry cut overall sector sales by nearly 20%, boosting the Astravan's share from 48.1% to 56%.
Helped by the Corsavan, which put on an extra 305 sales to finish at 1,987.Vauxhall claimed 80% of small van sales in the UK. If you're into collecting future classic vans, keep an eye out for the now-departed Rover 25/ MG Express twins and the Citroen Xsara Enterprise. Both faded away.havingsold fewer than 300 examples in their mayfly existences.
High-cube vans Sales were down here too. but only by 307, to 77,890.The Ford Transit Connect boosted its share by 2% to 31.5%; other winners included the Peugeot Partner,VW Caddy and Fiat Doblo Cargo. But the Connect's biggest challenge came from the Citroen Berlingo— an extra 1,544 sales gave it an 18.8% share of the sector.The antique Citroen C15 managed 127 sales before being killed off by the imminent arrival of Euro-4; less expected was the 1,671unit fall in demand for the identical Renault Kangoo and Nissan Kubistar.
Given Vauxhall's performance in other areas, the big surprise was the performance of the Combo — down from 20,887 to 16,313.
Medium vans The medium-sized-van sector remained remarkably unruffled, with no changes in the pecking order and a modest 2,0% increase in volume.The only product to see a four-figure change in volume was the VWTransporter, up 1,115 units.TheVivaro maintained its top spot with an extra 354 units, but a slight dip in share.
With the new models waiting in the wings, the slight dips in Peugeot Expert and Citroen Dispatch sales were only to be expected, although Fiat actually managed to sell an extra 286 Scudos. Having added exactly two more LDV Pilot sales to the one in the first half of the year, the line that began with the BMC.14 has finally come to an end. Large vans So we come to the all-important large van sector, once again dominated by theRansit (47.3%;up from 44.8% in 2005 and 36.2% in 2004).
The Citroen Relay and Volkswagen Crafter recorded respectable increases.With 6,722 units giving lithe fourth slotthe LDV Maxus has overtaken the old Convoy's 2004 sales, with the combined figures for the two models around 500 less than in 2005.
'The order of the top three remains unchanged, hut Mercedes and lveco won't be too happy with the reduced volumes and shares of the Sprinter and Daily. 2()06, it increased that to 4.6% of a market that itself grew 17%. Hot on its heels was Nissan, with a fantastic rise in Navara sales from 4,785 to 12,384 (although half this increase was at the expense of the now entry-level Nissan Pickup). Between them,the two brands mopped up 66.1% of the sector.
Ford increased its Ranger sales in the second half of 2006 but failed to significantly reverse the downward slide that took it from 22.2% in 2004 to 17.1% in 2006.
Toyota, meanwhile, used the new Hilux to record a 41% upwards swing, despite the best versions having yet to come.
Proton upped its volume by more than 50%, while Mazda, late to the party with its new B25, saw sales drop by more than 50%.Tata,of course, has taken an indefinite sabbatical. hut still managed 64 units, nearly half of which were in the back -ON end of the year. Overall picture Sales of light (Vs rose from 312,911 to 317,885, a modest increase of 1.6 '.Ford reinforced its lead with an extra 1.1% share 10 28.3%. Vauxhall took second spot with 4,665 units (15.0%) while last year's bronze medallist, Mercedes-Benz, slid from 7.3 to 6.8% -enough to let VVV,Citroen and Renault overtake it.
Thanks largely to its pickups, Nissan exchanged places with Peugeot; Mitsubishi and Fiat also swapped the final two top 10 positions. Of the remaining players in the lower orders, only Toyota has seen a relatively significant improvement in its fortunes..