NI loses billions
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RENAULT Vehicules IndustrieIs continues to be the sickest man in the European commercial vehicle manufacturing industry, with losses up by more than 50 per cent last year.
French Government-owned RVI, which also manufactures Dodge and Renault vehicles at its Renault Truck Industries plant at Dunstable, increased its loss last year from 1983's FFr1.95bn to FFr3bn (£324m).
Although it says that its operating loss held level at about FFr1.1bn and blames the jump on financial charges and other exceptional costs, RVI nevertheless lost approximately £7,000 on each of the estimated 46,000 vehicles it sold last year.
It is by no means the only loss-maker in the European market, and Iveco managing director Giorgio Geruzzo indicated at the Turin Motor Show last week that his company expects to make a greater loss than its £53.3m deficit last year.
He, too, blames the rise on exceptional costs, mainly the redundancy costs associated with the closure of the Unic plant at Trappes, in France.
Iveco sold 91,000 commercial vehicles last year, which means its loss per vehicle will be in excess of £600, or about a tenth of the RVI figure.
And by comparison, Bedford — one of Britain's major loss making commercial vehicle builders — lost £62.4m last year on sales of 47,958 vehicles. That means a loss of about £1,300 on each vehicle sold, many of them in lighter weight ranges than either RVI or Iveco serves.
Iveco UK, the British importer, boosted its profits from £2.7m to £3m last year.