Ford tops LCII league
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• Ford topped the UK's light CV registrations league last year, according to the latest SMMT figures. The company took 32.5% of the under1,800kg GVW class with 34,111 registrations, and 46.3% of the 1,801-3,500kg GVW class, with 58,757 registrations.
Sales in both sectors were, however, down on 1989 — by 19.6% and 20.4% respectively. In the heavier of the two sectors, covering pickups and panel vans, Ford registrations were down 17,021 on 1989, hut its dominance here still puts it over 43,000 registrations ahead of second placed rival Leyland Daf Vans.
Renault held on to third place, despite a 37.3% drop in registrations. The company blames a combination of agressive marketing from its competitors and the slump in the building trade but it says that the Trafic and Master sell particularly well to the glazing sector. The best-placed Japanese manufacturer was Nissan, in sixth place with a total of 6,216 registrations.
In the under-1,800kg sector, Vauxhall held on to its second place with 27,319 registrations, nearly 12,000 ahead of Rover with 15,472.
Land Rover still rules the 4x4 roost, with 6,739 registrations last year (34.9%). More worrying for Land Rover is an 18.3% drop in registrations during the year; its market share was down from 41.5% in 1989. The 4x4 market as a whole was down only 2.7% on 1989, so most of Land Rover's losses have been to Japanese competitors. Among the best sellers from Japan, Suzuki, Toyota and Isuzu all sold more vehicles in 1990.