New truck and van sales plummet
New figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders have underlined the depth and extent of the recession washing over the country’s commercial vehicle manufacturers.
Registrations of trucks and vans fell by 51 per cent in February with vanmakers - including Birmingham’s LDV - the worst hit.
The number of vans sold fell by 52.9 per cent to 7,117 units last month while the truck sector saw a more modest 41.6 per cent decline to 2,160 units.
CV registrations on a year-to-date basis were 47.2 per cent down at 24,058. Vans, again, suffered more, falling by 50 per cent to 18,862 while truck sales were 36.3 per cent down at 5,196.
Commenting on the latest figures, SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said: “The UK commercial vehicle business is under intense pressure with the slump in UK demand for vans, and now trucks, a big issue for the UK economy.
“Vans are 50 per cent below the figure for this time last year and trucks are down 36 per cent his year.”
Mr Everitt said the figures reinforced the strength of the automotive industry’s pleas for government help to see it through the recession without mass layoffs and plant closures.
This year, he went on to say, “will be a huge test for the resilience of our sector and of the firms that need modern, efficient transport to deliver a stable economy.
“These are unique circumstances in which the Government must help. We need direct, positive action to give people the confidence to buy now.”
Washwood Heath-based LDV, whose management team, led by Erik Eberhardson, is attempting to raise the money to buy the business from Russian owner Gaz, registered 107 vehicles in the 3.5 tonne or below sector of the market in the UK in February, 73 per cent fewer than the 390 units it shifted in the same month last year.
The company, which has not made a vehicle since December and whose workforce last week voted to accept a ten per cent pay cut and a cut in hours, suffered a 66 per cent fall in sales to 279 units over the first two months of the year. LDV’s sales in the 3.5 tonne and over category, a market sector to which the company is a relatively recent entrant, fell by 69 per cent to just 11 vehicles in February and by 74 per cent to 25 year to date.
It can take comfort from the fact that it was not the worst performer in the UK vans market. Sales of its near rival Iveco fell by 76 per cent in February and 70 per cent so far this year.
Land Rover, which appears in the SMMT commercial vehicle sales charts because of the van and light truck variants of its Defender and Discovery cars, also saw its numbers fall.
Sales were down 24 per cent at 101 units in February and 36 per cent to 346 over the first two months of the year.
Coventry-based London Taxis International, famous manufacturer of the iconic “Black Cab”, also suffered from falling demand.
Its figures were 16 per cent down at 94 units in February and 12 per cent adrift at 217 over the year so far.
LTI’s parent group Manganese Bronze reported on Friday that the cost of a series of engine fires affecting its new TX4 range of cabs had contributed to a £14.2 million annual loss.
