Commercial vehicle market declines in April
Sue Robinson, director of the National Franchised Dealers Association, commenting on the SMMT’s van and truck registration figures, said: “It is disappointing to see that the commercial vehicle market declined -4.2% this month following last month’s new 14-plate change.
Van sales remained stable seeing a decline of -0.6%, although the year to date figure showed a more positive growth of 12.2%. In April the only sector to show any noticeable decline was the sub 2 tonne circa car-derived-vans.
Dealers suggested that much of the short-fall was blamed on manufacturer bonus incentive periods ending at the end of March, hence many of them pre-registered a limited number of small vans to maximise their bonus incentives.
Sue continued: “Sales of heavy trucks saw a significant decline of -24.9%, however the rolling year remained up 22.3%. We had expected by now that the Euro 5 pre-registered trucks in December 2013 would have started to wash through by the second quarter of 2014, especially as the decline in March was only -16.5.
“The dip in April registrations mostly came from the heavy sector with 6t – 16t rigid chassis which were down -41.3% and 3 axled artics at -33%.
“The NFDA hope the confidence in the economy and the growth in both employed and self-employed tradesmen will return the van market to growth over the coming months.”
